4. Why Buy It?

Its giant screen with good image quality, ease of use, and quality sound haven't convinced you yet? Well, maybe its battery life will - 3 hrs. 53 min. with video or 27 hours with audio. You'll have to admit that being able to watch two movies in an airplane without ruining your eyes while getting the most out of the latest Hollywood special effects is tempting. True, for a few hundred dollars more, you can get a real portable computer with DVD player. But if you don't intend to work during your vacation, the Archos will fit into your bag without weighing down your luggage unnecessarily. Do yourself a favor and buy it, or put it on your gift list.

Good audio and video quality, in equal proportions, are the essential characteristics of a PVP player. But if a player is hard to handle, no matter how good its quality, it could end up gathering dust in a closet instead of being used regularly. The player's ergonomics, whether you use it alone or hooked up to a PC or a TV set, will decide how much use you make of it, and so it affects the overall score we give it. And at this price level - still too high for this type of device to become hot-ticket consumer item- a better pair of earphones (costing thirty dollars or so extra) is a feasible investment, so the quality of the bundled earphones is not that much of a factor.