ARCHOS recently announced the launch of their new Gen 5 lineup of personal media players leading out with the ARCHOS 605 WiFi as an upgrade to the 604 WiFi model featuring higher quality screen resolution and easier access media content. It features a higher resolution 800 x 480 4.3 inch touch screen, WiFi connectivity and comes in sizes of 4GB flash with an SD card slot or drive capacities of 30GB, 80GB or 160GB.

ARCHOS takes more advantage of the WiFi capabilities with the Gen 5 versions through a couple of new services. On the 605 WiFi users can access the ARCHOS TV Program Guide to view show times and set the device to act as a DVR and record programs with a single touch. The DVR capabilities still unfortunately require a separate base station to make it all possible.

Also new to …

Creative Labs rolls out the Zen Stone, their fancy way of saying “Look at our new MP3 player.” Weighing less than a pound and with a storage capacity of 1 GB (that’s about 250 songs at 4 minutes each), it comes in 6 different colors and looks a little like a compact digital camera.

Dimensions are 2.1” by 1.4” by 0.5” so it’s small enough to slip into your shirt or jeans pockets or even attached to your car keys (there is a keychain accessory that you can also buy.) The Zen Stone plays MP3, WMA, WAV and audible formats and the rechargeable Li-ion battery gives you 10 hours of playtime as you shuffle through your selection or playback your favorite tune for hours at a time.

Creative has software on its website that you can download to better manage your ZS …

Gadgets for young kids are way cooler now then they were when I was young. Within just the last few months we’ve seen a new Kidizoom digital camera, a kid-tough FP3 player and now Sandisk, wanting to make sure they have something for everyone, has released the Sandisk Sansa Shaker MP3 player targeting the smaller tykes.

The Sansa Shaker isn’t necessarily high on tech but it might meet the wants of parents who are tired of kids that always want to borrow their $200 iPod and fill it up with songs from High School Musical and Hanna Montana. This kid-targeted MP3 player retails at just under $40, comes with a 512MB SD card (would you expect another medium from Sandisk?) and has some unique methods for navigating music.

The name “Shaker” comes from the fact that users of the player can actually give it a …

We had a sneak-preview of the ARCHOS 704 WiFi via the FCC last month, and now ARCHOS announced the new ARCHOS 704-WiFi. Boasted as the only portable media player with a 7inch screen and full WiFi capabilities, the 704-WiFi also has a very high quality screen with a resolution of 800×480 with 6 million colors. Just as the older 604-WiFi model, the 704 comes with video, music and photo playback, as well as full internet access whatever your needs may be. Along with these features, the 704 also has an 80GB hard drive, touch screen navigation for use with your fingers or a stylus, and video editing capabilities.

If you happen to have a wireless network in your home, the 704-WiFi will allow you to browse your vast media collection in the comfort of your living room. …

Archos is making a name for itself, and although for some it might not be the best name they are definitely not quitters. We actually kinda’ liked the Archos 604 video player for it’s sharp look and decent screen size. We liked it even more when the added WiFi to it and we noticed some of the cool accessories, like the helmet cam.

Today pictures of a new version of the player called the Archos 704 WiFi was revealed via the FCC and we couldn’t help but notice the words “MOBILE DVR” stamped on the front.

The actual functionality details are a little gray at this point, but it does seem to have the same sharp look, possibly a little bigger screen and maybe a bigger hard drive for storing and playing more movies. Common DVR functions are a strong possibility which would …

SanDisk has released another new MP3 player to their Sansa line of devices. The Sansa Connect is a 4GB MP3 player with WiFi connectivity and a 2.2″ TFT display screen.

The Connect allows the user to play music and share it with a built-in speaker as well as view photos. Internet radio can also be streamed through the WiFi connection along with downloading music through any open WiFi network and with Microsoft PlayForSure. There is also an SD card slot to transfer and store additional files beyond the internal 4GB capacity.

“It’s about accessing music of your choice wherever you are. If you’re listening to new songs from a music service and find ones you want to keep, you can bring them into your library and don’t have to wait until you get back to your PC. If you want to tell …

SanDisk recently introduced the slim Sansa View portable video player which allows playing movies, music and viewing photos on a 4″ widescreen color display.

The video player has only 8GB of internal memory, which is quite a bit for playing audio files, but doesn’t go quite as far when viewing video. SanDisk estimates 33 hours of MPEG-4 video playback at 512kbps with the internal 8GB. The video player does have an SD card slot, so the memory can be expanded and video stored externally if needed, and a video out AV jack to allow playback on a television. The player also has a rechargeable battery that allows playback for up to 10 hours on a full charge, a built-in speaker and overall dimensions of 78.5mm x 123mm x 16.9mm.

The Sansa View is expected to start shipping in the first quarter of this …

The Archos 604 is a portable multimedia player for all standard video formats in a full DVD resolution, including MPEG-4 ASP, WMV (and protected WMV) as well as MPEG-2 and VOB with a software plug in.

The Archos 604 has a 30G hard drive to store up to 130 hours of encoded video. The screen is a 4.3″ wide screen, which gives quite a bit more view that most portable video players out there. You can view them right on the screen, or output them to a full size television and still view them in DVD quality. Once uploaded you can use features to play the video, video editing and video bookmarking right on the player.

There is an optional DVR station for the Archos 604 that seems to almost be must to get all the benefits from this super thin player. You …