Jack ([info]ndr) wrote,
@ 2003-10-09 07:19:00
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THE ARCHOS GMINI 120 MP3 PLAYER WITH MAD UPDATE
Press Release
October 9, 2003

ARCHOS RELEASE THE GMINI 120 THE TWINDISPENSABLE MP3 DEVICE

Archos, the pioneer in hard drive-based MP3 players, announce the
launch of a new concept in MP3 enjoyment with the Gmini series.

Archos the company that offered players with iPod functionality before
the iPod was even an iSeed is leading the way again with a totally new
concept in MP3 entertainment.

The Gmini series provides the industry's first upgradeable and modular
device; consumers can purchase the basic unit and add the functions
they want to create a totally personal player.

The first player to be launched will be the Gmini 120, due now in the
UK. Only slightly larger than the iPod at 110x76x25, and sporting far more
features and functions than Apple's current models. The Gmini delivers
an advanced range of functionality to consumers at an entry-level price.

Standard Features

20GB MP3 Player/Recorder: You can play and record up to 500 albums,
that's over 300 hours of music! in one of the industry's smallest 20 GB based
portable MP3 player/recorders. In addition the Unit comes with the MusicMatch
solution so you can convert your entire CD Collection into MP3 format and transfer
over a fast USB2.0 connection. All your favourite songs can be with you all the time.

Redesigned GUI (Graphic User Interface) with icons and a unique twin
browser: You can browse the hard drive with the Music Library system,
where songs are arranged from the PC in a database according to genre, album,
artist - the customary MP3 interface. Or You can explore stored files with the
Disk Browser interface, for an experience similar Windows Explorer.

Optional 'Plug-ins'

Photo Wallet: Store and organise your JPEG photos using CF memory card
(an adaptor for other memory cards is also available). And with the Gmini
220, you can not only store photos, but also view them on a 2.5" LCD screen

FM Radio & Remote Control: This unique remote control transforms the
Gmini 120 or 220 into an FM radio with remote control and full MP3 recording
capabilities. Music can be recorded from radio straight onto the hard
drive by hitting REC.

Thanks to Archos' patented retro-record system, the player will go back
in time to save the entire song from the start - no more missed intros!

What's more if you want to remind yourself where you left your car, or
when you are meeting your boss, the built-in microphone captures your
thoughts at the press of a button. Reminder recorded and saved

Mad Jukebox Interactive Music Composer: Created by MadWaves and unique
to ARCHOS, this interactive software allows aspiring artists to compose
their own music on the move. Based on generative music algorithms, you can
create limitless tunes in any style and genre by interacting with the
copyright-free digital music included. Freestyle in rap, hip-hop,
techno, new-age - or change the lead, riff, drums, bass, instruments - or add
sound and voice samples in real time. Invent and interact with your own
beats, music, and songs.

The Archos Gmini - More Music, More than Music

Avalablility: In store & on-line in the UK from the end of September
2003, the entry-level unit retailing at £249.99 with upgrades from £ 19.99.

Backplate: The Archos phenomenon is founded on their consistent ability
to bring innovative products to the market ahead of many of their larger
rivals. After 12 years of trading the parent company Archos SA was
successfully floated on the French exchange in April 2002. Headed by
Colin Brown the UK sales operation commenced in January 2001 and has grown
exponentially leading to the incorporation of a separate operation in
July 2002. Archos products add to system functionality without adjusting /
interfering with the system hardware.



(Post a new comment)


[info]raven23
2003-10-23 09:24 am UTC (link)
So, this is a new product!? I mean, I just bought it (today), meaning to use it primarily for the "photo wallet plugin" (aside from the mp3 playing capabilities). Went to the Archos Web site and lo and behold! - no "photo wallet plugin" available for either purchase or download. What shame -- makes the built-in CF card slot practically useless. :p

(Reply to this) (Thread)

where did you buy it? what country you from
(Anonymous)
2003-10-24 04:27 am UTC (link)
where did you buy it? what country you from?

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: where did you buy it? what country you from
[info]raven23
2003-10-25 08:01 am UTC (link)
I got here at a local gadget shop here in Manila, Philippines (where I am).

I just checked the Archos Web site again, and now they have the Gmini 120 information on their site. My only problem now is that Archos doesn't recognize the Philippines as a 'valid' country to 'ship' their products to. They 'force' me to select HK or US or some other country as a home country.

This means that, even if I used an international credit card (Visa, Mastercard), if the billing address is here in the Philippines, I can't purchase the 'photo-wallet' plugin. Argh!

I've wrote to their FAQ (and will try emailing their tech support again), otherwise, I'll have to someone who lives in any one of those countries to buy the plug-in for me and just email it to me. :p

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: where did you buy it? what country you from
(Anonymous)
2003-10-26 02:52 am UTC (link)
where did you buy it in manila?? was it in makati?? wat mall?? tell me raven, i need to know!!..!!!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: where did you buy it? what country you from
[info]raven23
2003-10-30 11:33 pm UTC (link)
Yup, Greenhills, actually. Little shop at Virra Mall 2nd floor call @Gadgets (a sister company of Games & Gadgets). If you're looking to use its 'photo-wallet' capability, hold off though -- I had major problems with mine and lost quite a few images. I'll be writing the manufacturer some strong email about it. If they don't fix it soon -- I'll be selling my unit. Don't need an expensive MP3 player, if that's all it can do.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: where did you buy it? what country you from
(Anonymous)
2003-11-20 09:57 am UTC (link)
Hi There Raven -

I just purchased the Gmini 120 to use as a storage facility for photos and made the same unwelcome discovery you did. I purchased mine in the US but am now in Japan. Somehow, when I try to download the addin their site detects that I am in Japan
(nothing to do with my credit card - I don't even get that far) and will not deliver the download i.e. I am prepared to pay but cant get it. How did you manage to download this in the end?

Thanks, Jason

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: where did you buy it? what country you from
[info]raven23
2003-11-20 07:11 pm UTC (link)
I managed to find a friend who was kind enough to purchase, download and email me the plugin.

WARNING: As of now, the photo-wallet plug-in *DOES NOT* work properly. With small images (from compact or point & shoot digital cameras, say, around 1MB) it generally works fine. About, 9 out of 10 images are transferred from the CF card to the Gmini 120 properly.

However, 1 out of 10 of those files may be corrupted during transfer. What we've managed to figure out is the transfer of the file is ended before the entire file is actually transferred -- hence, the JPEG image is truncated.

It gets worse as you move to larger files (high-res files from DSLRS, around 2-3MB). You can easily 'lose' half your pictures that way. Also, the Gmini doesn't recognize and hence doesn't transfer RAW image files.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


(Anonymous)
2003-10-24 12:45 am UTC (link)
I have been looking around for a HD based mp3 player and saw this nice looking one in the store the other day. I bought one and after using it I was un-pleasantly surprised to find out that you have to purchase additional software "plug-ins" in order to use all the cool features like copying files directly from the compactflash card, record from the mic, record from the line inputs, etc... (guess that's what happens if you don't read the fine prints). I went to the archos website and no plug-ins available yet and it will cost you $20 - $40 to get a plug-in for each of the "built-in" features. Ouch!!!

(Reply to this)


(Anonymous)
2003-10-28 03:02 pm UTC (link)
I think they need to bring the price down a bit if things like microphone functions are only available after buying a plugin!

(Reply to this)


(Anonymous)
2003-10-28 03:12 pm UTC (link)
Why is Archos selling this player for around 250 USdollars in the USA and the equivalent of 400 USdollars in Europe?
So should we boycott stores here in the UK and buy direct from the USA?
Or can anyone recommend a cheap place selling it new(not secondhand) in the UK that may sell at a price nearer to the USA price???

(Reply to this) (Thread)

availability in the UK
(Anonymous)
2003-11-07 06:24 am UTC (link)
here is a link to a website that has the player available now at £212 ex VAT.

Availability etc http://www.datamind.co.uk/Templates/frmTemplateM1.asp?SubFolderID=116&SearchYN=N

Raven, would you recommend the product or should i pay a little more for an ipod?

I really like the idea of using the flash card reader while not having to have an attachment.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

help me out?
(Anonymous)
2003-11-21 06:21 pm UTC (link)
Hey Raven, I heard you had a friend that was cool enough to email you the plug-in. Do you think you could do me the same favor? I'd appreciate it a lot.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: help me out?
(Anonymous)
2003-12-17 06:09 pm UTC (link)
Can you email me the plug-in please ??

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: help me out?
(Anonymous)
2004-10-28 03:12 pm UTC (link)
i know its been a year since u wrote this , but can u send me the plugin plz?

(Reply to this) (Parent)

ANYBODY KNOW ANY US SITES THAT SHIP TO THE UK?
(Anonymous)
2003-11-25 04:12 pm UTC (link)
hey,
does anybody know any sites that ship to the uk? i am really piss~d off that archos can sell the gmini120 for double what it is in the USA!!! trouble is that i cant find anywhere that will... i've tried the big companies eg amazon etc but no luck... also does anyone know whether i would need to buy a different power supply for it ?
thanx

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: ANYBODY KNOW ANY US SITES THAT SHIP TO THE UK?
(Anonymous)
2003-11-27 04:06 pm UTC (link)
Hi, I just bought a Gmini from www.jandr.com (USA), I am living in Canada. They send me the Gmini here. I think they are doing over-world ship.
Good luck. john

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: ANYBODY KNOW ANY US SITES THAT SHIP TO THE UK?
(Anonymous)
2003-12-01 03:44 am UTC (link)
the only place i could find the gmini in the uk is www.datamind.co.uk. it is priced at £212 ex vat and includes the voice recorder and the flash card reader. you do not need to purchase these plugins from the site.

The only thing you will need to purchase is the remote control, I am still waiting for my one.

The company may not have the best website, but I ordered my player last monday and it arrived two days later, which is great when you consider I live in the channel islands.

A UK charger comes with the product.

hope this helps

dan

(Reply to this) (Parent)


(Anonymous)
2003-12-15 04:18 am UTC (link)
Hi all,

I found the GMINI on dukebox for £249.99 inc. VAT & Delivery, inclusive of Record and Photo card features.

http://uk.dukebox.net/proddetail.php/40/UK/

From their web site:

"On the Gmini 120, as it comes, the Record feature and the connect to CompactFlash/ photo cards feature, are disabled. You need to download a Plugin (piece of software) from the Archos site once you have the jukebox in your hands, but it won't cost you any extra."

However, I could not find any review about dukebox. Does anyone recommend this online shop or know anything about it?

Cheers,
Alex

(Reply to this)

My mini-review
[info]raven23
2003-12-23 10:05 am UTC (link)
(Whoa. I didn't realize this li'l LJ post would garner so much views and feedback. Anyway, having had the Archos Gmini 120 for a couple of months now, and having gone through all sorts of experiences with it, I feel I'm qualified to write my own mini-review.)

First off, as an MP3-player.

It's great!

It's 20GB (and it has a 40GB brother), and I got it for around US$ 300 retail, locally in the Philippines.

It's handy. It's a little less the size of two cigarette packs side-by-side. By contrast, the iPod is a little smaller (about the size of 1 1/2 cigarette packs). I'll also concede -- the iPod is mighty sexier.

The battery lasts long. Or, decent enough for my taste. Archos advertises 10 hours and I've gotten at least 9 hours non-stop on the thing at full charge. Being that it uses Lithium-Ion you shouldn't have to worry about 'battery memory' problems -- but full-charging from full depletion does take around 2 hours though (slow charger, I guess).

The interface is minimal, but hence intuitive. There's very little to complicate things and confuse you. The equalizer feature is a godsend esp. when listening on a variety of ear/headphones or speakers.

Sound quality is great. Of course, the most I've heard it on are my Altec Lansing ATP3's and the bundled earphones -- I'll reserve serious audio reviews for the serious audiophiles who listen on $300 Sennheisser headphones and Harman-Kardon speakers -- but then again, you're listening to an MP3 (which, even at 320KBps won't ever approach CD or vinyl quality, so...).

As a CF-card reader and photo-wallet

The CF-card reader thingie seems to have been fixed with firmware v1.30 (which I'm running). Of course, I haven't tried it on a critical shoot (nor would I), but I did transfer about a dozen 2-3MB JPEG images once and they all went through fine. I guess we all should just keep waiting for firmware upgrades (and it seems, Archos, at least, is diligent in releasing these).

USB2.0 is awesome. Even only as an external, USB hard disk the Archos is already quite useful.

The fact that you have to pay for plug-ins still sucks.

Over-all

So there. Bottomline is, the Gmini 120 still delivers more value for money than the iPod (even if a friend of mine was just recently able to buy a 20GB iPod for around $300 -- but he still can't have CF-card reading *ever*). OTOH, you can also download all other sorts of plug-ins for the iPod (such as a calendar/scheduler applet), but you'll still have to purchase an external device to read CF cards.

The iPod *still* is sexier.

There you go. :D

(Reply to this)

Mad Jukebox Interactive Music Composer?
(Anonymous)
2003-12-25 09:56 am UTC (link)
Does anybody have any clues as to how I can get a copy of the Mad Jukebox Interactive Music Composer for my Gmini. It is included in the Gmini product descriptions and even has a suggested website in the booklet, but this seems onlt to be trying to sell me the Madplayer, rather than a software plugin.
This was the main feature that tipped me in favour of the Gmini over similar products and I have spent most of the day trying to get an answer, but as yet I am left frustrated.

If anybody can help, please let me know so that I can enjoy the rest of Christmas
Thanks in advance

(Reply to this)

USB charging possible...?
(Anonymous)
2004-01-01 03:21 pm UTC (link)
I have a few unresolved issues with this one:

- is it possible to charge the Gmini using the USB connection?
- Has anyone figured out whether the HD can be replaced (for a 60 GB one for example)?
- is there a way to power it using AA or AAA batteries?
- How does the plug-ins and firmware updates get applied (Does it need a PC/Mac)?

many thanks... thinking of getting either this one or a iRiver 20 GB. hence I am trying to find out as much as possible before forking out the dosh.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: USB charging possible...?
(Anonymous)
2004-01-04 07:13 am UTC (link)
I don't know all the answers but :
- No.
- don't know, but there should be a 120 (20 gb) and a 140 (40 gb) version.
- i would say no.
- it's a very small file (< 1ko) sent by mail and specific to your model (serial number + product key). It must be sent to the Gmini via the USB connection (just like any other file).

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Support for Mac Users
(Anonymous)
2004-01-03 09:48 pm UTC (link)
I just bought the Gmini120 model. As others have mentioned above, as a portable external USB/mp3 player, it's cool and a decent bargin. I'll let you know in 6 months how rugged this puppy turns out to be.

My two main complaints so far:

1. The earbuds included with the gmini were badly manufactured, with the left bud having only 4 inches of wire and the right bud having 10. Very lopsided.

2. Mac support is awful. The itunes plug-in is worse than useless.

(Reply to this)

GMini 120 - Gads, I Love This Thing.
(Anonymous)
2004-03-24 07:45 am UTC (link)
OK, someone needs to post an update, so I guess it's me.

The most important thing to note so newbies don't get confused: THE PLUG-INS ARE NOW FREE!

I've had to of the units in the last couple months - the first I bought at CompUSA (obviously in the US), and it had the plug-ins pre-loaded. The second (after I destroyed the first - probably my fault for using a cheap car lighter power supply) I bought from Circuit City (yep, still US) was an older unit which didn't include the plug-ins. Minor nuisance, as they're now free from Archos.com. Both the "Photo Wallet" (useful in theory, I've never bothered even though I use Compact Flash), and "Recording" (a MUST HAVE application).

Also, if you update the O/S (which you can also do for free), you'll find that "Mad Jukebox Interactive Music Composer" is GONE! It looks like they've decided not to implement it. No loss to me, though I sympathize with anyone who feels Archos promised & not delivered.

But I find the GMini 120 is wonderfully useful. Of course, as an MP3/WMA player, every CD I own is on it. Sounds great.

I DO NOT use MusicMatch, because I have too many computers to load software on (and don't want one system different from all the rest in terms of players). That's why I use Windows Media Player: "It's In There". And does just fine. I lose out on "ArcLibrary" - too bad.

The recording capability has turned out to be the one capability I never expected to use - and wouldn't live without. If you've got one, and haven't taken advantage, try using to:

* Record a concert/show (assuming it's allowed!).
* Record your next gig/Karaoke party.
* Record radio programs.
* Record meetings and conference calls for review.
* Spy on loved ones (just kidding).

Have fun with this one!

-- Robert Nasir (RobertNasir.com)

(Reply to this)

Good but cannot read RAW file
(Anonymous)
2004-04-24 01:46 pm UTC (link)
I've been using the Gmini for almost one month now, it's a good product. But today, when I was to transfer some RAW images from my Canon to the Gmini, I found out that I can't. The Gmini doesn't recognize the files. I had already tried with Jpeg's and it worked fine so I thought this was the product I wanted. Now, I'm upset, because I use a lot the RAW format. I turned to Google and can't find any fix. I found this page because someone, up there, has already said that the Gmini can't deal with RAW, but I wanted to make it clearer, so, if you use RAW, don't use Gmini, unfortunately. I will have to send it back to the store where I bought it and lose some money for the restocking fee and shipping. Darn it. I was liking it so much...

(Reply to this)

Same guy above
(Anonymous)
2004-04-24 02:20 pm UTC (link)
I feel stupid. But relieved.
To allow the Gmini to copy the RAW files, I had to go to Setup/System/Show all files/ and set this setting to ON.
That's all it takes. Then, I was able to copy my RAW files.
Now I'm happy again... :-)

(Reply to this)

Thanks!
(Anonymous)
2004-07-14 09:06 am UTC (link)
Thanks for all of this info guys, I just ordered one, and it should be here in a few weeks. :)

Does anyone have problems with the buttons? They look ... insubstantial. As if there's not enough buttons to get everything done.

I also read another review on buy.com that there was no way to scan forward and back within a track? Is this true? I doubt it because I get the feeling that the guy didn't know that if you hold down the "next track" button, it acts as a fast forward.

Thanks again,
Erik (AIM: spidylicious)

(Reply to this)


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