Archos 404 PMP reviewed

After putting the Archos 604 through its paces, the folks at CNET have now thankfully seen fit to give the PMP's smaller, squarer sibling, the 404, a once-over as well. As with the the 604, they were especially impressed with the 404's video capabilities, offering support for MPEG-4 ASP up to 720x480 @ 30fps, WMV9, WM DRM and -- despite no stated support from Archos -- DivX, which they say works "flawlessly." Of course, you'll have to settle for watching all that on a 3.5-inch 4:3 screen as opposed to the 4.3-inch widescreen display on the 604. A fair trade-off for portability, although CNET says that the smaller screen is lacking in more than size, with a more pixelated image and less vibrant colors than the 604's. They also lamented the absence of the all important kickstand as well as the lack of a removable battery, both of which the 604 has. So unless you really need that extra bit of pocketability, it seems you may want to spring the extra fifty bucks and snag yourself the widscreen model.

[Thanks, Old Surinam]

[Dean Croshere @ Aug 29th 2006 4:39PM]

Why name your product after a number that means "broken?"

[Leo @ Aug 29th 2006 4:42PM]

I've been around the web too long. I saw "Archos 404 PMP" and thought it was an error. The Archos "Could not find." I wonder if their marketing department thought of this.

[pableu @ Aug 29th 2006 4:43PM]

404 doesn't mean "broken". 503 could mean broken, if you're a geek :-)

[tristanfey @ Aug 29th 2006 5:58PM]

The numbering is based on the line and the generation. The 404 is the 4th generation of the 400 line as is the 604 for the 600 line.

[michael @ Aug 29th 2006 7:51PM]

so a good product comes out, tonnes more features then most if not all portable media devices in its category and everyone just bitches about its name...

whatever, get a life...

[jf @ Aug 29th 2006 8:45PM]

it's not that we're bitching about the name... it's just that we have been on the internet for a while and 404 usually signals some sort of error. I though the same thing when I clicked on it.

[TIm Tackitt @ Jul 6th 2007 10:41AM]

I have been using the Archos 404 about 4 months now. I like the 30GB drive for the number of MP3 files and video files which it can hold. I certainly can see the display better than my kids' iPod! The video display is quite adequate for me, although the video out to a monitor is not quite as good (due to the compression). All-in-all, I am quite pleased.