Cowon A2 or Archos AV500?

June 15, 2006 4:18 PM

Cowon A2 or Archos AV500? Which is the better video player?

I've read every review that I can find, but they all have different and conflicting complaints. Battery life is very important, as I'll be using it mostly for cross-country flights, so I'm leaning towards the Cowon. What concerns me is one review which gave the impression that it wouldn't accept any files not copied through the bundled software, which, if true, is a dealbreaker, since my primary platform is Mac. Most of the reviews agree that the Archos is better, but it looks to me like they're impressed with a bunch of features (like TV recording) that I'll never use. I just want it to play videos that I'll be ripping myself.

Anyone have experience with either of these? They don't seem to be available in any physical stores where I could try them out. Is there another PVP that I should consider?

posted by Sibrax to Technology (3 answers total)

Toshiba Gigabeat? Not sure if this qualifies as a full blown PVP, but I've heard a lot of good things about it. Don't think it can hold a candle to the Archos for battery life though...
posted by Mave_80 at 5:09 PM on June 15, 2006

let's try that again. Oh, and btw, I own a Archos Gmini 400 and couldn't be happier - therefore don't be influenced by any comments re. Archos and long term durabilty with their earlier models - I've had it since 2004....
posted by Mave_80 at 9:03 PM on June 15, 2006

Response by poster: The Gigabeat and Gmini are nice, but their battery life isn't quite what I'm looking for. I decided to go with the Cowon, and I haven't had any problems with it so far.
posted by Sibrax at 11:13 AM on June 24, 2006