Wonderful ultra small mp3 player / external hard drive!

After months searching for something else than just a mp3 player I decided that the Gmini 220 was the most suitable for me in terms of features and price.

For a relatively low price you get an external ultra small 20 Gb hard drive, which also plays mp3/wma music files with very good sound quality. The USB2 port worked perfect in my Win2K and winXP PC's. No need of any extra software. Just drag and drop any type of file. Gmini 220 also reads CF cards (with few limitations I have to investigate yet), show pictures in B&W records from external devices using line in input (max bitrate 192 kbs), live records using the integrated microphone (max bitrate 112 kbs). It comes with Musicmatch (plus version!) soft which is necessary to create libraries but you don't really need it to play your music. OS software updates are free from Archos web site (I upgraded the unit's OS from v1.5 to v1.6 with no difficulty). Finally, I've been PC biased but Mac users be aware that Gmini does work as an external hard drive for Macs too!

I heard my friends who have iPod talking about having to 'synchronize' files between their computers and their iPod and.. that's not for me boy! (besides that the price of the iPod is still prohibitive for me) I just want to drag and drop files as I do in my PC with any of my storage devices. It's just so simple and easy. I didn't even bother to hear about how iPod organizes music files (it seems it uses the tags, instead of the file names, which I find quite inconvenient). I prefer to organize all my files by their names, and I decide what folders to create, etc. Yes, I am too much computer oriented, that's why the Gmini is just the best option for me. Besides, I love small portable stuff, so I can bring files from/to work/home, and also share music/picture/any file with my friends without having to worry they don't have the 'right software' to read my device (well, it seems you do need some software if you have win98 or earlier). And of course, I love listening to music anywhere, anytime. For that, the sound quality of the Gmini is remarkably good (But yeah, don't use the earphones that come with it, use better ones to get the real sound). Believing that my Expanium mp3 player was still extracting a
better sound from mp3s recorded on CD, I tried both devices at the same time with the same earphones, same mp3 songs. After lowering a bit the high frequencies in the Gmini equalizer to reduce some background hum, I wasn't able to tell any difference between the sound coming from the Gimini and the Expanium. More over, I had also thought that the line out of the Expanium working with my audio system was superior to the earphone output of the Gmini. I was wrong! For both devices the sound output for mp3s when connected to my audio system is quite weak, which means I have to turn the volume of my audio system to almost the maximum. So far the best output sound I get listening to mp3s is that one coming from my computer. I guess that's the best deal if you want to play mp3s in a party for example: connect your computer to the audio system (or the Gmini to the computer and then to the audio system).

In more detail:
- The huge screen and friendly interface makes it very easy to navigate and look for any file in your Gmini. You can move files between folders, create or delete files, see info like size etc, and even rename files with a keyboard screen that works pretty well for what it is.
- The huge screen also allows you to see the pictures you have stored (or the ones in the CF card) meaning you can 'identify' them, though don't expect to really 'see' details within the picture..
- The compact flash reader is an additional feature that works very fast and works wonders in conjunction with a digital camera CF based, to do backups or empty your card when full. I'am using that feature a lot too. However, I should mention that I couldn't move 1.2 Mb pictures taken with a Nikon 8mpx on a lextar CF card.
I read somewhere that Gmini might have some troubles with big files and/or some CF card brands.. In any case, I didn't have troubles with other 2 CF cards (sandisk, canon) transferring files of more of 1Gb.
- The microphone is another cute additional feature that impressed me with the quality of the recordings. It's true, you have to wait until the screen goes off (which you can set as fast as within 10sec ;) to get rid of a somewhat annoying hum that gets in, but I can live with those first 10 sec and filter or cut them out later.
- I converted a tape played by my audio system which I connected to the gmini via the line in input. The quality of the mp3 recorded at 192 kbs was impressive, though of course you get the tape hum you can only get rid of by doing some simple sound filtering afterwards. Now I can digitalize old inedited tapes anywhere I don't have a computer. Gmini does it right there!
- Gmini comes with options to reproduce your music using playlists and so on. I haven't explored this yet, I am not too fond of playlists but I know you can do it easily in the Gmini. Using the Musicmatch soft that comes with it (plus version) you can also create libraries but I don't find this necessary either. I prefer to organize all my files by their names, and I decide what folders to create, play, etc. No need of tags either!
- I haven't really tested the battery life but I trust more those users who coincide in an average of 6 hs instead of the 10 hs advertised in the manual...
- One disadvantage is that the battery is internal but at least the unit comes with little screws that I think will make battery replacement possible.
- Another nice surprise is that the AC charger/adapter works for both 110V and 220V !! So no need of transformers anywhere! (I will eventually go to Europe and South America so this feature will be extremely convenient).
- Still, to be fair, I read about the i-river hp 120 and it does seem superior to the Gmini 220, with the included remote and everything... but...it's about 100$ more expensive, and it doesn’t read CF cards. So, it depends on your needs and your pocket!

And finally some things that could be improved:

- Gmini uses the same port for both power and USB (they can be connected simultaneously) but you cannot use other 'typical' AC plugs different than the one provided. Also, it would be more convenient to have the plug at the top on the unit instead of at the bottom.
- Buttons are just fine for my small fingers, but bigger hands might find them too small. Also, in my unit, the left arrow sometimes gets a bit stuck or does the 'down arrow' job instead. Seldom, some other buttons mix up their job, but in general it works ok. UPDATE: in the previous sentence I should change 'seldom' for 'sometimes', or even 'often' when it comes to the 'play' button... but still I can get around it...
- I noticed that just sometimes the unit warms up quite a bit and it might be bothersome if carrying it close to your skin. I guess it's a general behavior of these type of batteries.
- While music is playing you can browse the whole hard drive but you cannot delete or move files. Actually you can but the unit would then stop playing the song.
- A few times when playing mp3 and rewinding or forwarding my unit either stopped playing or kept playing not being able to rew or ffw in that song anymore. Everything came back to normal after changing the screen and restarting the song. No need to reboot.
I though that bug had been fixed with the last OS update but it seems it was not quite. Still, it happened very few times, in general it rew and ffw without a trouble.