Archos Gmini XS 200 512MB MP3 Player (512MB Internal Flash)

Archos Gmini XS200

Gmini XS 200 512MB MP3 Player (512MB Internal Flash) Review, by Sam Jemielity April 12, 2005

Show More Show Less

0 Comments | 0 Topics | Print Only This Review

• Latest User Reviews 1 review
• Reviewed by: Amiel

  Duration of ownership: 2 Years

  Strengths: Like the player

  Weaknesses: Very bad service

  Overall: I usually don’t leave reviews but thought you should know about their service. I sent my MP3 player to be fixed a month ago and when I called today to check on its status they said that it will take up to a month to charge my credit card! Not sure why they did not charge it as of yet and they wont start fixing it before payment is made. Base on this fact, it will take over two months to get my MP3 back. I called them today for the 5th time. Hope yours wont break.

• Reviewed by: aimansh

  Strengths: small, HD size

  Weaknesses: none

  Overall: I got this to replace my old bigger archos MP3 player. it is small and has a fast USB connection. it also has a power adapter that works with 110-220 electricity so if you travel oversease this could be useful. the price is pretty good compared to the IPod and it is smaller! the display is grayscale (I wish it was colored) but is pretty good. sound quality is very good. navigation and rearranging songs is easy. I looked at other MP3 players with 20GB HD before buying this but for the size and price this was the best!

• Reviewed by: IceBluMoon

  Strengths: Cheap hard drive mp3 player/storage. User friendly. Setup between computer and mp3 player is very simple.

  Weaknesses: LED is really bright. Headphone style wraps behind neck.

  Overall: This Gmini XS200 is a great buy! It's smaller than an apple ipod and compared to the 20GB ipod it is much cheaper. The setup to upload music from the computer to the mp3 player is very user friendly. Battery life is pretty good. I definitely recommend the Gmini XS200 over the Apple ipod!

• Reviewed by: nyktovus

  Strengths: 20gb! TINY! NO software required! VBR up to 320!

  Weaknesses: ... I didnt get charged $100 more for an apple logo?

  Overall: At first glance this thing is about the size of a pill box, its ridiculously small i was surprised. after booting it up i immediately plugged it into my linux box (which saw it right off the bat) and transferred 150mb of music within 11 seconds.. i was in awe. My mac and xp machine all had just as little trouble seeing it. When you first look at the screen which lights in a green glow with black print you immediately think touch screen like it was an older palm. so naturally i'm having to clean the fingerprints off the screen everytime i show off my new xs200.. but everyone is astounded, superb sound quality.. and for those of you that b*tch about the earbuds sounding bad.. when have you bought a device soley for its earphones.. really.. you can even use this lil guy as a 20gb external harddrive to hold more than just mp3's on. AND you can browse the data.. so if you forgot what you threw on it.. just look.as for the last amazement: vbr at 320, and meu playlist support. for those that dont wanna be locked into "itunes only" players this thing kicks butt.. I dont know how many times my iTerd friends come over and be like.. "hey can i grab these tunes.. oh wait can i install itunes on here?" i can plug mine in anywhere without needing admin rights on whereever i'm at. ipod, meet your match easy. I looked into nomads, rca lyra's, iTerds, rio players, and honestly i couldnt have been more happy with what i got. it blows all competition out of the water.

• Reviewed by: hugscot

  Strengths: Good for data file transfer. Nice metal case. Small size for a 20gig player.

  Weaknesses: It is not recognized by Napster or Windows Media Player. Archos support is not very good.

  Overall: I spent two days trying to transfer music to it that I downloaded from my music service Napster while waiting on tech support to email me back about the compatiblity problem because I could not find a phone contact number on their site. I also could not find my player model listed on their site for self help support. Archos tech support finally wrote back days later but did address my issue of whether or not the player was compatible with Napster and WMP. So I finally ended up returning the player. Archos tech support finally called me by phone after I requested a RMA. They said it is not compatible with Napster, which I have already figured out by now and shipped it back. I bought an iriver and am very pleased with it and wish I had went that route to start with. Live and learn.

• Reviewed by: grostami

  Strengths: CHEAP (I got mine for $212), Great Sound, VERY SMALL size, light weight, Everysong you will ever listen to in your LIFE, REALLY in your POCKET, and did I mention CHEAP!! VERY FAST USB 2.0 transfers.

  Weaknesses: random accessing music can sometimes take as long as 4 seconds. Needs FM tunner and recording to be the ULTIMATE.

  Overall: This is definitely THE IPOD KILLER.It's got it ALL. CHEAP ( I got mine for $212 with tax & shipping), Great Sound, VERY SMALL size, light weight, SIMPLICITY (It only has 2 buttons and a joystick) Every song you will ever listen to in your LIFE, REALLY in your POCKET, and did I mention CHEAP!!VERY FAST USB 2.0 transfer of music. My 2000 song mp3 collection took under 10 mins. to transfer into the unit !!! That's a song every 0.3 seconds.It comes with a Universal Power adapter to connect to any AC outlet in the World ( VERY NICE !!). It also comes with an OK ear-bud headphones.Unlike the IPOD you can't accidentally hit the buttons on it. It even has a LOCK mode to disable all of the buttons. Great playlist creation and editing tools. The ability to delete,rename, and move songs is great.I really love the ARC Library browsing feature. Finding music based on Genre, Artist, Year, or Album is amazing. It has given me a new insight into my own mp3 collection.My only complaint about the unit is random accessing music can sometimes take as long as 4 seconds. But there is NO delay when you DON'T random access music.This is by FAR the BEST mp3 player I've ever owned. Archos was the FIRST, and they are gonna show APPLE no matter how much money APPLE throws at marketing the IPOD, ARCHOS is always gonna come up on the TOP.