Archos roadmap reveals fifth generation plans

The folks at Archos Lounge have managed to get a peek into the future of their raison d'être, turning up Archos's roadmap for their fifth generation of products. As you can sorta see above (a bigger version's available at the link below), the company has quite a few things in store for its ever-expanding line of portable media players, including support for BitTorrent, Flickr, and YouTube, which would also seem to make Flash support all but confirmed. From the looks of it, the 5G devices will also boast some VoIP capabilities courtesy of Skype and, most importantly for some, they'll even let you get your MySpace fix on the go. If that's not enough to whet your appetite, you'll only have to hold out a bit longer to get the complete rundown on the new devices, as Archos has already pegged June 14th as the date for the official announcement.

[matthew @ May 15th 2007 12:38PM]

with the exception of rudimentary video editing (re-encoding on the unit?)and skype calls (requiring an additional jack or a new multi-purpose jack?), i'm really curious to know just how much of these new features would be possible on existing 4G's via a significant firmware update.

[Alex @ May 15th 2007 1:45PM]

I've never tried it, but I'm pretty sure I can do video editing on my Archos Av480, which is a few generations behind this one, so I'd imagine the current generation can already do it, without a new firmware.

[Alex @ May 15th 2007 1:55PM]

I've never tried it, but I'm pretty sure I can do video editing on my Archos Av480, which is a few generations behind this one, so I'd imagine the current generation can already do it, without a new firmware.

[ray @ May 15th 2007 12:59PM]

Being able to play flv files would really be awesome. I'm sick of converting youtube videos.

[kva @ May 15th 2007 1:49PM]

Having been burned by the pretty much useless 604 wifi....no thanks.

[matthew @ May 15th 2007 2:08PM]

burned how?

[Travis @ May 15th 2007 2:25PM]

KVA - I just picked up the 604 Wifi....what did you not like about it? So far, it's the best player I've owned.

Travis

[alex @ May 15th 2007 1:57PM]

Does that roadmap include not nickel and diming(sp?) us to death with the various codec we need to install on their PMPs?

[alex @ May 15th 2007 1:57PM]

Does that roadmap include not nickel and diming(sp?) us to death with the various codec we need to install on their PMPs?

[Charbax @ May 15th 2007 5:42PM]

Archos provides H264/AAC and Mpeg2/AC3 as optionnal codec plug-ins, the reason is that those each cost 20$ to licence the respective codec licensors be it the H264/AAC consortium, Dolby Digital or the Mpeg2 consortiums. Archos does not earn money from selling those codec plugins, simply they are making the basic unit 40$ cheaper for everyone else who don't need to have those H264/AYC/Mpeg2/AC3 codecs, and provides an on-demand upgrade for advanced users who need to have those codecs.

[alex @ May 15th 2007 2:00PM]

sorry for the double post.

[alex @ May 15th 2007 2:12PM]

sorry for the double post.

[fashionista @ May 15th 2007 2:33PM]

Flash Player 9 would be the beesknees.

[Godsmurf @ May 15th 2007 5:16PM]

I'm a big fan of my old Archos, which makes a mockery even of current iPods, but in the current generation they've removed the flash card slot which is why I haven't bought a new one. Being able to backup my camera pictures while traveling is just too important a feature to do without. Does anyone know if there is another way to do this with the current Archos players without requiring a PC?

[Charbax @ May 15th 2007 5:40PM]

Of course, since the AV400, the Archos can backup pictures from digital cameras through a direct USB-host connection, so you just need to cary the USB cable for your digital camera to connect to the Archos and empty your memory card onto the Archos 30-160GB hard disk. Also if you want you can plug a multi-card reader on that USB-host. Everything that is mass storage device, meaning that is recognized by a Windows XP computer without installing drivers, will also be recognized automatically on the Archos using the USB-host port.

[Godsmurf @ May 15th 2007 5:44PM]

Thanx for the info! Is there a list of supported cameras somewhere?

[Dona B @ May 23rd 2007 6:59PM]

Yes, you buy the travel adapter which has a usb 2.0 and you buy a mobilemate card reader and upload your photos to the Archos. It's awesome!

[ineedtigetpissed @ Jun 9th 2007 11:56PM]

The models im familiar with (av500 and av700 - not the newest models) comes with a cable that you can connect a few usb devices to including memory card readers, some hardrives - NOT SHURE USB FLASH COMPATIBILITY - i think the hardrives and flash drives need to be formatted a certain way for it to be read. I think the newer ones and the upcomming models have this ability to connect some usb devices to it. 160gb model is a suggestion if you are going to backup photos and other media. there is another option but no screen but very good battery life for photo backup - hyperdrive.com -- but it isnt a media player if a media player is what you need. It is a very useful device (backup device at hyperdrive.com)with up very fast memory card transfer speed, reads many formats, very long battery life, and the hardrive is expandable as technology gets better - Example probable if there are 1tb laptop hardrives, it might support it...

[Brian @ May 15th 2007 5:41PM]

I've always been an iPod guy, but Archos has been steadily releasing great products, once all of those features are crammed into one device, I might have to rethink my DAP approach.

[ineedtigetpissed @ Jun 10th 2007 12:09AM]

The archos is definitly worth buying. It beats the ipod any day. There is currently a 160gb model of Archos and ipod only goes up to 80gb. Archos is very well built and quite strong (droped 7inch screen on concrete and other hard serfaces before with little damage (few scratches) to the exterior but everything still working perfectly and at top speed, no data lost or damage - i dont suggest trying it though) The screen is bright and very strong - things have been accidentally dropped at it, left a scratch on the screen but not visable when it is on (small scratch not very noticable unless you look for it) - would have damaged an ipod screen significantly and may damage ipod internal hardware - not exagerating. I do not suggest trying to damage an archos and still dont be careless with one but they are well built and a very satisfying experience owning one.

[Dustin Frazier @ May 15th 2007 6:32PM]

I own the av500 now and can't wait for them to release a 100gb+ player the size of my gmini400. Archos makes the ipod vs zune argument irrelevant. And to the guy complaining about having to buy a couple codecs.....so what, at least you can get them. Archos supplies the major codecs and the rest are pretty cheap. What other player has pretty much all the codecs available?

[JohnTitor @ May 15th 2007 7:27PM]

still need a good reason to upgrade my ARCHOS Gmini 402 Camcorder edition

[northerngeek @ May 16th 2007 10:33AM]

Exactly the problem for Archos- none of there stuff is unbearably out of date because it was generally really well made in the first place, the main way they get new sales is by people showing theirs off to friends whereas Ipod sales come a lot from previous owners... sucks to be Archos at this point.

P.S. The AV500 kicks ass and my girlfriend just got the 504- three days ago, this news will break her heart!

[ineedtigetpissed @ Jun 10th 2007 1:08AM]

Archos has the best portable media players ive ever seen with the best qualty. They have so many useful features. I hope the next generation Archos comes with the new 250GB or 300GB hardrives.

[riggs @ Jun 10th 2007 2:25AM]

i still have my 402 (with the genesis nes and doom emulators) and i still love it, only thing is it gets scratches and dings like crazy but i damn sure wouldnt trade it in for a garbage ipod.