Archos 204 compact DAP announced

Following up on the recent razzle-dazzle 704-WiFi hype, Archos busts out with a much lower-key product: the 204 DAP. The 204 packs in 20 hours of playback time for MP3, WAV, and WMA files and uses a USB 2.0 connection. You can peep photos (JPEG only) on it, but no video, which is fine since it'd be quite squint-inducing on the 1.8-inch OLED display. Costing approximately €179 (about $235), the no-frills 204 offers a generous 20GB HDD in place of the more progressive features and styles seen in similarly priced DAPs and PMPs. The Archos 204 DAP will be available soon throughout Europe and on the Archos site.

[Thanks, Voland]

[Simon P @ Mar 7th 2007 1:47PM]

Huzzah! Ok so I'm an Archos fan anyway but this is exactly what I want. I want to listen to music on my DAP, nothing else. Give me an on/off switch, a volume control, good battery life, decent size and I'm happy. If only we could get more DAPs going this way we could see them being dirt cheap (well cheaper than they are already) very soon.

[Tom Boyce @ Mar 7th 2007 2:00PM]

That picture on the screen is used in Final Cut Studio and Motion themes lol. Strange choice for a company competiting with the iPod.

[Zach @ Mar 7th 2007 3:31PM]

At a cost of $235, this is one ugly DAP.

[Jeff @ Mar 7th 2007 3:39PM]

$235 ?? You can get a 30Gb iPod for $249.

[Pedro @ Mar 7th 2007 5:13PM]

if it was a bit less expensive i would love it

[carl @ Mar 7th 2007 5:35PM]

and you can get non non-ipod 30GB daps for less than $249.

[Frank @ Mar 7th 2007 6:36PM]

Yeah, but does it run Linux? (Or at least Rockbox? http://www.rockbox.org)

[egloskerry @ Mar 7th 2007 7:00PM]

235$ is retail, guys. The XS202 was 249$ retail, but street was around 200$. This will probably be 180$ street, possibly less.

This looks like a contender to replace my extremely aged XS200 in which the drive is failing. However, I don't like that smaller screen, and 20GB is low for these days.

[Galicki @ Mar 7th 2007 7:24PM]

This was better the first time...when it was the Rio Karma in 2004. Ogg+FLAC. How is this better? I can view my girlfriend on the display? oh, wait. crap..note to self. girlfriend needed first.

[Romeo Echo @ Mar 7th 2007 8:08PM]

This looks to be an updated version of the Archos XS202, which I own, and is one damn fine player. The key ability for me is that you can create MULTIPLE playlists on the go, unlike Apple's one-shot On-The-Go Playlist, which last I checked didn't even work right on their 8gb nanos.

Also, you can simply drag-and-drop tunes to this player, unlike the iTunes slavery that Apple forces upon you.

[ashokcsn @ Mar 8th 2007 1:24PM]

I have had the xs202 for morethan 8 months now and it is built tough and does what I want. PLAY MUSIC. And I dont need any DRM ridden s/w to copy music.