From: Joseph Jones <joe_at_bumpycarrot.cjb.net>
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2004 16:33:31 +0100

Mine has developed similar behaviour. Squeezing it seems to be loosening
the battery contacts or some such.

 From what I can tell, the closest matches feature/price wise are the
Ripdrive/XClef and the GMini. There's already been some work on the
GMini firmware, but apparently the XClef is well documented (I heard
somebody mention that on this list). The XClef is a little taller (0.5")
and a little slimmer than our current boxes, and the GMini is about the
same. The XClef uses 2.5" HDDs, and I *believe* (I can't find info for
sure) that the same is true of the GMini. The Ripdrive can even be
bought without a disk, for all those whos existing disks are intact.

Both can handle WMAs and MP3s, and the GMini can handle WAV as well.
Both have FM tuners and recording capabilities, although the Archos
website seems to suggest that the GMini requires their special remote
for these abilities. Can anyone confirm whether this is because the
necessary hardware is actually in the remote?

Obviously I'm no developer (yet (promises himself again to learn C this
summer)), and I can't tell people what to buy, but side-by-side, based
purely on hardware, I think the XClef just pulls ahead. However, perhaps
the familiarity with Archos products weighs in the GMini's favour.

Joe


Stuart Tedford wrote:
> Mine is also dying. It has been taken apart about 10 times now and this
> final time seems to have broken something. I can now switch it on and off
> via the power buttons as normal, but also by squeezing the case quite gently
> at either the sides, or the top and bottom.
>
> I did notice that the I/O PCBs on the top/bottom where the batteries connect
> are now bent from the constant pressure of the battery contact spring
> pressing against them. Looks like a design fault to me.
>
> It will have to come apart yet again. Anyone got any ideas of where to look
> for the fix?
>
> I haven't been impressed by any of the new players on the market. None of
> them have all the features I want, a few come close but are always missing
> at least one of my "must have" features.
>
> I guess what most of us RockBoxers are doing is waiting until someone with
> the expertise and time to port RockBox does so on one of these new breed of
> players. Then we will all know which one to buy. Until then, we will have
> to keep nursing/using our Archoses (or is it Archi) well past their use by
> date.
>
> Stu.
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Received on 2004-06-04