In case you're not familiar with the latest addition to the "4th generation" of Archos players, here's a little update for all of you. We've mentioned the 504 briefly before, but a little hindsight never hurt anybody.

We've seen the 404 & 604 product pages pop up a while ago; now, Archos' "middle man" stands up to enter the arena. The 504 model goes on where the Gmini-500 left off: 80GB worth of storage capacity. If you're in dire need of more space, well, that's no problem: there's also a 160GB version of the 504. Wow. That's the stuff video-collecting junkies have been waiting for, I guess.


No fancy WiFi stuff in here, and the 504 is less slender than its older brother (130 x 78 x 23 mm, 315 gram for the 504 vs. 130 x 78 x 17 mm, 255 gram for the 604). When looking at absolute figures, the 504 is noticeably more expensive than the 604. The 80GB version goes at 499 Euro (MSRP), whereas the double-whammy 160-gigger costs a whopping 699 Euro; a 30GB 604 requires us to drop some 379 Euro onto the retailer's counter.

In return you'll get lots and lots of additional disk space, of course. There's still the option to record video through the video dock (needs to be bought seperately - that's another 99 Euro or so) and the basic components are identical to that of the sophisticated 604-series (as in, it has a very nice screen and a sturdy exterior, there's USB-Host in there, it's UMS/MTP compliant, supports AC3, has a removable battery et cetera). Battery life is a tiny bit better too, compared to the 604's 16 hours for audio (504: 17 hours) and 5 hours for video (504: 5.5 hours).

So there you have it. Archos' Generation 4. Now if they'd only introduce a 160GB successor to the the XS202(s)... .

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