Rating: 
Summary: Bad Player
Review: No SD support and no Windows media file support. After 1 week the contacts for the batteries became too compressed and now there is no contact! I wish I spent the extra money for a better player.
Rating: 
Summary: Ondio flash player - best small package available today
Review: Pluses:
- expandable flash via MMC/SD cards
- builtin 128 mb
- voice record
- radio
- MP3 record line-in or radio
- 30 sec retro -buffer on radio record
- ATA drive in Windows (drag&drop files)Minues:
- no backlight
- no power source other than batteries
- no rechargable battery support
- screen is narrow, which requires lots of scrolling(i.e. waiting) to see info
- can't access card and builtin memory at same time
- no quick access (1 button) to scan through pre-set radio stations
- quirky flash process that requires you to leave the updated firmware on device. The process hosed my device and I have to send it back. They don't provide a PC means of flashing the player, the player flashes itself, so if something is wrong with the player OS, you're [out of luck]. My email asking whehter >128MB cards would work in the player went unanswered but I still bought the player. I wanted something small and shock proof and expandable. This fit the bill. Add in backlight and the ability to draw power from the usb hub, I would give it five stars. Manual is of marginal quality. Accessories are good. Comes with a case that doesn't quite fit and headphones that are dull but this is fairly standard. I later found out that the external flash support is a little flakey. Songs played from my one lexar 128mb mmc are incredibily choppy or nothing is heard at all. Flash fit is very tight and difficult to manage at best. This aspect of the device is flawed. However, the rest of the device works quite well. Really do miss not having a backlight available.
Rating:
Summary: Good player with some glitches
Review: PROS: -ExTREMELY easy to use with windows XP. Plug it into the USB and a removable hard drive pops up in my computer where you can copy and paste files.
-Really Small
-Cool Microphone that works well
-Audio-in records from any headphone jack, and records from its radio Cons: -Eats batteries fairly rapidly
-Case not designed too well (so cry about it)
-Navigating through songs and FF/REW take a while
-I've had audio-in recordings turn out warbled (long ones) I bought it in August 03 and its a pretty cool player. It came with the stereo cable for recording, but I went to radio shack and got a cable with a headphone jack on each end so I can record from just about anything. I do use the included stereo cable for playing through my tv's speakers. The sound quality is great. Maybe I haven't had any horrible problems yet like the other reviewers, but I think it is a good product with the features of recording, microphone, USB memory, and radio. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Live Up
Review: Pros: Nice looking player. MP3s transferred from computer sound good. Headphones have volume control on cord. The voice recording worked good. Cons: The 30 second "retro-recording" doesn't work good. After I downloaded and installed OS 1.31f (which a flyer in the package directed me to do) the retro stopped working. Unable to restore to original OS. Now when I double-click to start the "instant" recording it displays a message, "Checking Available Disk Space" (I have over 120mb available). Then if I double click again I get maybe 3 seconds retro-recording, not 30 like the box and manual says. If I wait for the message to go away the player goes to radio and is not recording, so the instant recording in the radion mode (as manual says) is non-existant. Also, the case fit is very poor. It covers some buttons. There is a belt clip but it's secured at the bottoom with velcro, which won't hold up long. After the velcro gives out you'll have a good chance of loosing your player. The earbuds are a little uncomfortable in the ear. The FM Radio reception is not good. Slight movements cause some distortion even when close to the radion station. A regular set of headphones (over the head) seemed to help reception a little. You have to tune it to the station then back up .1 to get a clear reception. The manual is barely helpful. The software that came with it is not good. Never was able to transfer files from it to the player. Although it was easy to simply create a folder in MS Explorer and copy the MP3s to the player. Still, the software should have been more user friendly. I would not recommend this player because of the sheer fact that it doesn't do what's promised. It's going back tomorrow.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Live Up
Review: Pros: Nice looking player. MP3s transferred from computer sound good. Headphones have volume control on cord. The voice recording worked good. Cons: The 30 second "retro-recording" doesn't work good. After I downloaded and installed OS 1.31f (which a flyer in the package directed me to do) the retro stopped working. Unable to restore to original OS. Now when I double-click to start the "instant" recording it displays a message, "Checking Available Disk Space" (I have over 120mb available). Then if I double click again I get maybe 3 seconds retro-recording, not 30 like the box and manual says. If I wait for the message to go away the player goes to radio and is not recording, so the instant recording in the radion mode (as manual says) is non-existant. Also, the case fit is very poor. It covers some buttons. There is a belt clip but it's secured at the bottoom with velcro, which won't hold up long. After the velcro gives out you'll have a good chance of loosing your player. The earbuds are a little uncomfortable in the ear. The FM Radio reception is not good. Slight movements cause some distortion even when close to the radion station. A regular set of headphones (over the head) seemed to help reception a little. You have to tune it to the station then back up .1 to get a clear reception. The manual is barely helpful. The software that came with it is not good. Never was able to transfer files from it to the player. Although it was easy to simply create a folder in MS Explorer and copy the MP3s to the player. Still, the software should have been more user friendly. I would not recommend this player because of the sheer fact that it doesn't do what's promised. It's going back tomorrow.
Rating:
Summary: Does what I want
Review: Pros: - I bought the Ondio mostly as a voice recorder, and I am very pleased with it in that capacity. It records directly to MP3 files and the recordings sound great (slight hiss). I record mostly in my car and the background noise is not a factor. - The MP3 player works great as well. Good sound, loud enough, good capacity. - The entire unit functions as a USB drive, so you just plug it in and move files on and off through the file system. Super easy and straight forward. Cons: - Other reviewers are right about the radio reception. Walking around the house causes even the most powerful signals in my area to cut out. The headphone cord is the antenna so maybe that can be fixed with a better cord(?). Probably not so good for runners. However, if you can get a steady signal, you can record to MP3 very easily, which is kinda cool. - The "Line In" port does not allow you to use normal PC microphones, which is sad. Apparently, "powered mics" work, but I haven't tried it. The internal mic is very good however. - The case does not fit quite right (partially covers button) and doesn't provide more than cushioning. No belt clip.
Rating: 
Summary: SD card NOT supported
Review: SD (Secure Digital Card) is not now and has never been supported by the Ondio. Only the now rare MM (MultiMediaCard) are supported for expansion. -The FM radio works very poorly. -Email sent to Archos support goes into a black hole. Use the phone. -The carrying case is ill-fitting. -It eats batteries (I think all mp3 players do.) +It does have a nice form factor. +Good control layout. +Lots of features.
Rating:
Summary: it has some good qualities, FM reception ain't among 'em
Review: The FM reception is rediculously bad, so don't buy this if that is what you want. I use this mainly as a recorder from the radio, and it works pretty well, although I've had some problems when I try to move files onto by computer. Techinical support with this company--in my experience--is non-existent. The Ondio works as a recorder, but in other respects it falls short. I'm not about to buy another MP3 player, so I'll make this work for me. But if you buy one and have problems, you will be largely on your own with it.
Rating:
Summary: The archos ondio [is bad]
Review: This product has a lot of bugs to be worked out. If you do a bit more research you will quickly find out that many people are dissatisfied with it. Mine was defective out of the box and I sent it back. The customer support is also terrible.
Do not buy this product unless you have a lot of money and enjoy collecting MP3 players.
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