I wanted to offer my opinion of the Archos AV340 MP3/Video player, since I asked for help on researching it a while ago.

First off, I bought an Archos Jukebox Recorder 6 a few years ago instead of an iPod. That was a mistake. It was a cheaply-built, horribly-programmed device that didn't even record well, which is why I chose it over the iPod in the first place (there was tons of HDD noise on the recordings).

I'm not a user who would benefit from just a music playing portable player. I'd get bored after a while, and I just wouldn't have much use for one. That is why the AV300 series players are great for me. As a portable I can listen to MP3's, watch videos, view pictures, listen to the radio (with an add-on), load pictures from a CF card (with and add-on), and even take digital pictures and video (with an add-on). At home, I can play audio and video on my TV, and capture it as well (with an included add-on). I have also used it several times for its portable hard disk use.

Every single one of my issues with my previous Archos product have been solved or improved. The build quality is significantly improved, with only the joysitck feeling a tad weak and loose. The software is actually intuitive and clear (suprising compared to my old Archos). Lastly, the recording quality is excellent. There is no noise from the hard disk. The audio quality overall is far better as well. The player is also suprisingly fast. Most videos open in about 3-5 seconds and that is the most labor-intensive task it has.

It's actually very easy to record onto the device. This is my preferred method of getting video onto the device in the correct format. Converting would take several hours, so real-time recording is actually the fastest method

I went with the 40GB version. It was just the most appealing size to me. I'll also be able to fit quite a lot of data on it. I recorded a 55 minute VHS tape at a very good quality level, and it only took 613MB. Granted, the video won't look great put back onto a TV, but for viewing on the device it's self, it's fantastic. I can fit quite a lot of movies on there at that size.

To summ up, the my Archos AV340 is my new favorite toy (no, not more than my empeg, but it's up there). The screen is beautiful, all the usual Archos pitfalls are adressed and nearly eliminated, there's an incredible amount of functionality, and the device actually does what it's supposed to do incredibly well. I can't wait to take this to Europe for a month!

ps-there's many more features that I haven't mentioned. I could go on for many more paragraphs, but I won't