Archos 
5 Comments Archos 2 Vision 8GB MP3 Player – Red
- Play MP3 WMA APE FLAC and WAV music files
- Store thousands of photos
- View JPEG photos
- Animated user interface stylish and user-friendly
- Very intuitive and convenient tactile slider
Features:FM radio recording capability, AVI playback, TXT files support, Digital Storage Media:Flash memory, Digital Video Playback:Yes, Sound Output Mode:Stereo, Capacity:8 GB, Supported Flash Memory Cards:microSD, Digital Photo Playback:Yes, Supported Digital Photo Standards:JPEG, Battery:Player – rechargeable, Battery Enclosure Type:Internal, Battery Life Details:Digital playback – up to 10 hour(s) Video playback – up to 4 hour(s), Built-in Display:Colour, Diagonal Size:2″, Resolution:220 x 176, Slot Provided:1 x microSD, Connector Type:1 x headphones ( mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm ) 1 x Hi-Speed USB, Features:JPEG photo playback, Supported Digital Video Standards:AVI, Supported Digital Audio Standards:WAV, WMA, MP3, FLAC, APE (Monkey’s Audio), Product Type:Digital player / radio, Digital Player Type:Flash based, Weight:38 g, PC Interface Supported:Hi-Speed USB, Depth:0.9 cm, Height:8.2 cm, Enclosure Colour:Red, Digital Player Functions:Radio, voice recorder, photo playback, video playback, Width:4.4 cm, Headphones Type:Headphones – binaural, Connectivity Technology:Wired, Sound Output Mode:Stereo, Service & Support Details:Limited warranty – 1 year, Service & Support:1 year warranty, Type:Microphone – built-in, Software:Drivers & Utilities, Cables Included:1 x USB cable, Type:Radio tuner – digital radio tuner – FM
Rating: 
(out of 10 reviews)
List Price: £49.99
Price: £43.10
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Review by Dougie Richardson for Archos 2 Vision 8GB MP3 Player – Red
, which I bought cheap second hand,the hunt was on for a low cost replacement. It came down to the Archos or a Philips GoGear for a little more money. I settled on the Archos because of it’s MicroSD slot and Flac file format support. It arrived this morning, and so far I’m fairly pleased with it. The sound documentation consists of a small poster with basic instructions, and I do mean basic. I want to know how to use the favourites feature. It’s not mentioned in the ‘manual’ and there’s no help on the Archos website, which only has a copy of the poster already supplied. I will email Archos to find out how to use favourites. If I get a reply I’ll try to update this review to include it as it’s pretty useful info, and a should really, I think, be covered in the supplied docs.
Rating:
Having lost my Creative Zen Mosaic 8 GB
Sound wise it’s okay. I’m no Hi-Fi buff, but I know the music I listen too well enough to know when it’s being done justice too, and the Archos does it justice enough for my taste. The standard earbuds provide a reasonable sound. I’ve tried it though them, my Sennheiser PX 200 headphones, and my Koss Sparkplugs. The differences were so marked it makes me realise that the sound you’ll hear from any Mp3 player is as much about the ear gear you use as it is the player. The lesson here is that unless you have the opportunity to try several players with several sets of ear gear until you find the combo that does it for you you’re always going to be gambling that the choice you make is the best you could have made for your money under the circumstances. The standard buds are fine. The Koss and Sennheiser ear gear both out perform the included earbuds, but given how much I paid for them I would hope they do.
So given that sound quality is a movable feast, let’s turn our attention to the functional side of things. The Archos has one one major drawback as far as I’m concerned, given the limited documentation, and that’s the lack of a playlist facility. You can browse though Album, Artist and title, but there’s no facility to set up playlists. This means you can search and play individual Artists, Album titles, and track titles, but can’t mix and match between them to make playlists like ‘love songs’ or ‘sad songs’ or ‘funky’ or whatever. It handles video and photo files very well, neither of which are of any use to me, it’s all about the music for me. I long for the day when Mp3 manufacturers realise that the world is full of gadgets that handle video and jpg so much better, then they can get on with the business of improving audio playback instead of the current trend for adding half arsed features nobody uses instead of improving audio quality.
Summary. If you crave ease of use, the ability to synch with Itunes and a playlist facility, this is not the player for you, you would be better with something beginning with I and costing a lot more. If your after an Mp3 player that provides good sound quality at a reasonable price and takes a little work to get the most out of, get this, and spend what you saved on a decent set of ear gear.
Edited to add: Mine has no radio feature either, but to be honest I don’t care. I found the creative in a pile of washing yesterday, so now I have two 8g Mp3 players, bugger! It gave me the chance to do a head to head comparison of both of them though. I did a comparison of a few tracks in both FLAC and MP3 around the 190 rate with the Archos, and to be honest there was no discernible difference in quality. Given the difference in file size I’ll stick to the Mp3 as it allows for more tracks. I then did a head to head comparison between the more expensive Philips and the Archos. There’s very little to choose between the two, and if anything, to my ears, the Archos had a slight edge on the Philips, though it seemed to depend on the track. The Archos performed brilliantly though, so I’d still give it a thumbs up. The Philips has the edge on usability purely because of it’s ability to use playlists, but the Archos is still tops for sheer value for the money.
Review by L. C. Grandcourt for Archos 2 Vision 8GB MP3 Player – Red
Rating:
Despite the reviews I thought I would give it a go and buy the archos 2 vision. Arrived yesterday and was impressed. Just plugged in, it was recognised straight away by my laptop and I downloaded my music. Sound quality good (its my first so nothign to compare with) but I was pleased. Put it on timer switch off so I listened to music and fell asleep. Come to it this morning, plugged into laptop again to add some more tracks only for it to flash up that it is not recognised. WHAT….. Couldn’t believe it. Tried different usb port but still no joy. Last ditch attempt before contacting amazon, I umplugged, switched the mp3 player on and off again (as it was still in sleep mode I reckon). And with the devise switched off, I plugged back in and hey presto it worked. The computer picked it up straight away. So if any one else has a problem, double check that the devise is switched off and not in standby by mode before connecting to computer. Either problem solved or it was a fluke and next time I try I will have another problem. Lets hope not.
Review by Mr. Joshua S. E. Bateman for Archos 2 Vision 8GB MP3 Player – Red
Rating:
Having previously had a Samsung from their budget line of players, I thought I’d give Archos a go, with a product similar in spec and price (if a little cheaper), as a replacement for my YP-4. Having had it a couple of months now, I’ve got to say I’m fairly disappointed.
The touch swiper, which is used for menu scrolling and track control (ffw/skip)is pretty poor; it’s nowhere near sensitive enough, and temperamental.
The visual interface isn’t bad – quite a cool bluey colour, with all the normal eq and playback settings, but the artist/album selector is frustrating. With no alphabetical selection (and a slow scroller), it can take an age to get where you want with the device fully loaded.
But by far the worse feature is the battery. It is simply abysmal. If you don’t mind charging your player up every day, then no problem; but I do! I’ve been listening at low volume (10 out of 40) for about 4-5 hours today, and it’s already dying on me. Pretty poor.
Ending on some positives, for the price (I paid around £[]) you do get a fair capacity at 8GB, and everything does work on it (albeit poorly designed). Furthermore the sound quality is good, and it does look pretty smart.
So whereas the pros certainly don’t outweigh the cons, they are evident nonetheless, which is why it gets 3 stars. But I would strongly recommend spending a few quid extra and going for a Samsung; they clearly know how to make a budget player better than Archos.
Review by lindyturn for Archos 2 Vision 8GB MP3 Player – Red
Rating:
I own an Archos 605 wifi, which I enjoy using for its multiple functions but wanted something a little smaller for daily use. I liked the look of this and expected it to be similarly easy to use with my pc to download music through windows media player. Not so. First Archos make different versions of the Archos 2 vision, some with and some without an fm radio. The product info on Amazon UK clearly states what they are selling has the fm radio function but the model I received does not. For this reason alone it goes straight back. Even more seriously though, when I have tried to connect the player through the USB cable provided, on two different pcs, I get a new hardware installation wizard come up on the pc screen, inviting me to find and install software. Of course letting it search for such software comes up with nothing and there is no software on the Archos site either. Ignoring the wizard does not help as regardless, the device is not recognised by the pc, so no music can be downloaded, no files viewed and it does not even appear to be charging – at least the player cannot be switched on even after leaving it attached to a pc for several hours. Quite different from the 605 which was just plug and play – or charge – on any pc. This may be a faulty unit but as is usually the case with Archos products there is no support from the company or any useful information I can find anywhere on this problem. This is very disappointing as it looks good and is very convenient to carry – but I can’t comment on anything else as it has no functionality whatsoever.
Review by J. Burchell for Archos 2 Vision 8GB MP3 Player – Red
Rating:
I bought this as a replacement for a sansa view. There are a lot of nice features such as the expandable memory and the slide bar. After 2 months of use I’m starting to get a few issues. The decrease volume button can be unresponsive at times and the player must stay completely still so that the headphone jack can’t move about. Now for a portable mp3 player this is a major issue. Now this could be down being slightly hard on it, use wise, but I would expect slightly more robustness in a compact player. My previous sansa lasted almost 2 years and it had been dropped, banged and battered and the only issue was the battery life. I’ve been disappointed by this product, but for a casual user it should be fine as it has a reasonable sound quality and some nice looks.