Objects of (my) desire! (Personal Media Player)

I have owned quite a few MP3/Media players in the past. Starting with the Cowon iaudio X5, it gave me all that i needed, a 20GB HDD, Colour screen capable of playing videos, FM Radio and Music. Then i got myself the Sony NW A1200 walkman, it was a basic MP3 player with 8GB memory and music & FM Radio capabilities only. Moved on to the Creative Zen. Pretty Happy with it, 4 GB memory, video payer, FM Radio, Voice Recorder and expandable SC card slot. But like all things that you get bored of, I too got bored of all these and got myself an iPod Touch 8GB simply because of the lack of options!

I wanted to the Microsoft Zune HD but the lack of it's availability or rather exclusive availability in USA and Canda didn't allow me to get it. 

But my top choice was the Archos 5

 

The high price and the limited availability was the reason of not getting it.

Why did I want to get it? Well the Specs speak for themselves

1. Display characteristics:High resolution screen, 800x480 pixels, 4.8'' TFT LCD, 16 million colors
2. User interface:Touch screen, ON/OFF, vol+ and vol- buttons, retractable virtual keyboard
3. Processor(s):Central Unit:Main processor: ARM CortexTM-A8, 32 bit, In-order, dual-issue, superscalar core @ 600 MHz | Additional processor: 32 bit DSP @ 430 MHz
4. RAM memory:128 MB* (Low-Power Double Data Rate SDRAM)
5. Mass storage memory: Hard drive, capacity according to the product version
6. Operating system: Linux
7. Connectivity: On board WiFi (802.11 b/g), USB 2.0 host with optional accessories
8. PC accessories: Possible attachment of numerous standard USB PC accessories (keyboard, mouse, memory key, memory cards reader, camera and other future computer accessories)
9. Video playback: MPEG-42 (ASP@L5 AVI, up to DVD resolution), WMV (MP@ML, up to DVD resolution) included WMV protected files,M-JPEG (in QVGA resolution)
10. With optional software plug-in:HD support: MPEG-4 (ASP 720p) & WMV HD (MP 720p) | MPEG-2 MP@ML up to 10 Mbps (up to DVD resolution) and AC3 stereo sound (5.1) | H.264 up to DVD resolution with AAC
11. Audio playback: Stereo MP3 decoding @ 30-320 Kbits/s CBR & VBR, WMA, Protected WMA, WMA pro 5.1, WAV (PCM/ADPCM). | AC3 stereo audio and 5.1 sound files (via SPDIF output of DVR Station) | Flac and OGG Vorbis audio files
12. With optional software plug-in: AAC3 and AAC+ stereo audio files
13. Photo viewer: JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
14. PDF viewer: Reads PDF documents (may not implement all PDF features)
15. Video recording: Via the optional DVR Station or DVR Snap-on. Records NTSC/PAL/SECAM in MPEG-4 AVI format with stereo sound, VGA resolution (640 x 480) @ 30 or 25 f/s
16. Audio recording: Via the optional DVR Station or DVR Snap-on: Stereo line-in, WAV (IMA ADPCM or PCM) format
17. Email client: Compatible with Email accounts supporting POP3 and IMAP services Import/export of vCard contacts
18. Connections: WiFi (802.11 b/g) connection. Free Web Browser (Opera® Web browser with Adobe Flash® 9 video support) upon registration
19. Battery life: Music playback time: up to 22 hours | Video playback time: up to 7 hours

That's not all with a built-in speaker, ability to play games, and widgets it is a true competitor for the iPod touch!

Full Archos 5 review can be read here