Archos to release WiFi enabled portable media player

Archos has announced its new Generation 5 line of portable media players (PMP), featuring the new ARCHOS Content Portal and the easiest access to movies, TV shows, music and music videos. The new line also offers several ways to personalize the devices to fit individual lifestyles, and provides consumers for the first time a full-featured PMP for under $200. The ARCHOS Generation 5 line will be available beginning in September 2007.

The ARCHOS Generation 5 line features thin, pocket-sized devices with the highest quality screens and a host of unmatched features. Products will range from $170 to $500 for devices featuring 2GB to 160GB of storage -- for holding 2 to 200 full-length movies, thousands of songs or millions of photos. New features in the Generation 5 line include Flash storage and SD card slots which will allow consumers to expand the capacities of their players, while using SD cards to easily transfer content to and from mobile phones or digital cameras. Two new WiFi-enabled products feature the highest quality screens of any PMP on the market, with 800x480 resolution on a touch-screen display.

"Generation 5 is a breakthrough product line for ARCHOS, with the right combination of content, capabilities and price to make it easy for technology novices, while still exciting gadget fans," said Henri Crohas, ARCHOS founder and CEO. "Our focus is on the consumer -- their interests, their budget and their time -- and the new products represent the first connected PMPs that give consumers exactly the options they're looking for."

ARCHOS products let consumers stream content from the Internet, PC or Mac to the TV through a wireless connection in the home. With the DVR Station Gen5, ARCHOS products connect to Windows Media Player 11 on the PC, and move a consumer's entire digital life to the TV.

With new Flash support, ARCHOS products also stream Web videos, like those from YouTube and Dailymotion, to the device or the TV.

ARCHOS Generation 5 products provide the ultimate level of personalization through a host of optional plug-ins. The Web Browser plug-in turns the 605 WiFi and 705 WiFi into full Internet surfing machines. The new Widgets plug-in provides consumers access to hundreds of applications such as weather, calendars, sports scores, news and games -- directly from the home page of their device. The Internet Radio plug-in lets consumers stream their favorite online radio stations directly to the WiFi models.

Additional plug-ins will provide support for the latest audio and video formats for enjoying High Definition (HD) video (720p @ 24fps) from the ARCHOS PMP out to a TV, and for streaming HD content from the PC to the TV. ARCHOS continues to provide the Cinema and Video Podcast plug-ins for the latest audio and video support. All ARCHOS plug-ins are available through the ACP for under $30 and can be downloaded through one-touch synchronization between the ACP and the ARCHOS device.

The Generation 5 line features the ultra portable ARCHOS 405, portable and powerful 605 WiFi, large-screen 705 WiFi, and the ultra mini and affordable 105 music player. The ARCHOS 605 WiFi and 705 WiFi are the most advanced products in the ARCHOS Generation 5 line, with WiFi, touch screens, integrated ACP for wireless content downloads, ARCHOS TV Guide, and the highest quality screen resolution at 800x480.

ARCHOS continues its tradition of easy video recording from the TV, DVD player or cable box through its DVR Station, enhanced for Generation 5 with a new remote control. The company will introduce a breakthrough product this fall with the new ARCHOS TV Plus, a stand-alone DVR featuring a high-capacity hard drive with HDMI outputs for viewing High Definition video from the PMP to the TV, and WiFi and Ethernet connections for Web surfing on TV. With consumers be able to record, store, stream, and synch content with an ARCHOS PMP, the ARCHOS TV Plus will be the only DVR to integrate seamlessly with a portable device.

The new line will be available at thousands of retail outlets beginning in September. Detailed product specifications and pricing will be online at www.archos.com.