Although it’s been available in other markets for a while, media player maker Archos is finally bringing its diminutive Archos 2 digital music player to the United States market. And when we say “diminutive” we don’t mean so-small-you-could-lose-it like the Apple iPod shuffle, but we do mean the unit maked to be sleek and portable without doing away with a display to help users manage their songs and playlists. And did we mention that it offers two to four times the storage capacity as the iPod shuffle? At similar prices? Plus a voice recorder?
The Archos 2 features 8 to 16 GB of built-in storage, plus sports a microSD/microSDHS card slot for additional storage. The unit supports MP3 and WMA music, but sadly not AAC tunes, such as might be purchased from the iTunes store. The unit can display JPEG photos, can display text and lyrics (.lrc) files, and sports a voice recorder for taking notes and memos. The device transfers tunes and charges via USB 2.0, and can handle up to 10 hours of music playback on a single charge.
The Archos 2 should be available “soon” in the United states, with the 8 GB version going for $59.99, and the 16 GB version going to $99.99. Both capacities will be available in white or black; no word on when that swanky purple might be coming stateside.
