The Big Letdown

I have been wanting a personal media player for over a year now. I finally decided to buy one and I chose the 30GB 605 Wifi from Archos. It is a slick little device and I ordered it with the optional DVR kit. This is the main reason I bought an Archos, I wanted an easy way to get my video to be portable. I don't like messing around with download sites and converting or ripping crap and then move it to an iPod or Zune. I was willing to pay the extra hundred and have the device do the work for me.

Amazon had it on sale for about 10% off and the player and DVR arrived on Monday. I was like a kid at Christmas when he knew he was getting a Red Ryder BB gun. I was bummed that I couldn't set it up immediately because the battery needed to charge. It was supposed to be able to charge in the DVR, but it didn't seem to be working correctly. Instead, I charged it using the USB connection and it took almost 24 hours. Holy cow, that's a long time. Once it was charged, I got the new firmware for it and registered it on their website. I was impressed with the ease of use of the player and the picture / video quality of the samples was great.

Now I'm ready to start putting some video on it from my Tivo. Unfortunately, the DVR dock still didn't recognize my player, so my biggest reason for getting this is not working for me. I was also having a little difficulty synching the TV program guide to the unit I learned my lesson many years ago about electronics that are fussy when you first buy them. They rarely get better and by the time you've tried everything, they want to try to fix it under warranty. I didn't want to go that route so I have decided to send them both back to Amazon for a refund. Maybe somebody with better computer skills and patience will have more luck with their purchase.

I know I shouldn't put so much of my happiness in material things, but this was a big disappointment for me. I love gadgets and watching my videos so this was the perfect marriage. I am going back to my original plan of getting an inexpensive DVD burner and just playing the burned copies of my shows on my portable DVD player. On the bright side, even when I buy a new set of headphones and a spool of DVDs, this is still a cheaper option.