Amazon has Archos 5 250 GB Internet Media Tablet for $190 with free shipping. Next lowest on Google Products from a reliable seller is $240 Thank you deeds

Is the android version any better?

Quote from jackyche : Is the android version any better?

They have an Antroid version but you can put you old Vista operating system on it; also Linux has been put on this too as you see from YouTube.

<RANT>Archos units are invariably a frustrating experience of "almost there but not quite". Then there is the money grubbing add-ins that some people would rightly consider essentials. This is a hard product sector to make money in, and I give Archos its dues for persistence, but I have yet to see anything they make actually be worth a crap. I've bought at least 3 of their media players over recent years only to be greatly disappointed. I'm done with them. I don't think they have the mindset needed to make good media players.</RANT>

Quote from MadPup : <RANT>Archos units are invariably a frustrating experience of "almost there but not quite". Then there is the money grubbing add-ins that some people would rightly consider essentials. This is a hard product sector to make money in, and I give Archos its dues for persistence, but I have yet to see anything they make actually be worth a crap. I've bought at least 3 of their media players over recent years only to be greatly disappointed. I'm done with them. I don't think they have the mindset needed to make good media players.</RANT>

And even though it's exactly what I want to play my FLAC audio files, I'll never buy one until they produce something durable, or at least functional.

Quote from MadPup : <RANT>Archos units are invariably a frustrating experience of "almost there but not quite". Then there is the money grubbing add-ins that some people would rightly consider essentials. This is a hard product sector to make money in, and I give Archos its dues for persistence, but I have yet to see anything they make actually be worth a crap. I've bought at least 3 of their media players over recent years only to be greatly disappointed. I'm done with them. I don't think they have the mindset needed to make good media players.</RANT>

Quote from faheyd : And even though it's exactly what I want to play my FLAC audio files, I'll never buy one until they produce something durable, or at least functional.

Both of these have so much truth to them.

I agree to both above posts... everyone gets excited about their players...(myself included) after i buy one, it doesnt really deliver. i had the archos 605 wifi and it was OK, I got an 8gb iPod touch and it was Everything the Archos wanted to be.

I really wish they would step it up and make revoloutionary products as opposed to potentially revolutionary ones.

TU on the deal TD on the product itself.

yep crap

Quote from MadPup : <RANT>Archos units are invariably a frustrating experience of "almost there but not quite". Then there is the money grubbing add-ins that some people would rightly consider essentials. This is a hard product sector to make money in, and I give Archos its dues for persistence, but I have yet to see anything they make actually be worth a crap. I've bought at least 3 of their media players over recent years only to be greatly disappointed. I'm done with them. I don't think they have the mindset needed to make good media players.</RANT>

I agree. Archos seems to offer the latest and greatest in everything you'd want a media player to do, but for a price. Add-ons are exactly the reason why I no longer consider Archos when looking to buy a media player. I have an Archos gMini 402 that is probably their greatest achievement. I was able to view video files, pictures, record audio when needed, and play my mp3s while transferring files by drag and drop with no add-ons for one low price. The gMini was definitely way ahead of the 4th generation click-wheel iPod it competed against. My friends loved the included AV cable that allowed me to hook it up to a TV to watch/view the video files/pictures I had stored on it so that everyone in the room could watch/see what we were viewing. Naturally I was interested in upgrading to the Archos 404, but after finding out about add-ons and how much each add-on cost, it deterred me from ever going back to Archos. Yes Archos's business strategy seems to be paying off for them, it's just not for me.

The Archos 5 with 250GB is tempting though...=-P.

Quote from faheyd : And even though it's exactly what I want to play my FLAC audio files, I'll never buy one until they produce something durable, or at least functional.

All their players are durable, they have good build quality. However, their firmware just sucks, some bugs and they have stopped updating this series. The Android version is better because the firmware isn't theirs.

i heard their products are so sensitive to static, that if you ground any static and touch the tablet, it could die instantly. (meaning it wont power on)
maybe buy an anti-static wrist with it

Quote from MaMMiTs : The Archos 5 with 250GB is tempting though...=-P.

What's tempting is the 250GB of storage, but the amount of storage is largely irrelevant if everything else is crap. And a 250GB USB powered external (2.5") hard drive can be got for $60 nowadays. It's not like a year or two ago when 250GB in your hand was something special. Also, if playing media over wifi worked correctly, having 250GB of storage is unnecessary for 90% of use cases.