George

The Archos 604 Wifi runs on Linux and, unsurprisingly, has Wifi functionality.

The Wifi on the 604 hasn't been crippled like it has on the Zune (you can wirelessly sync, browse and manage remote directories, browse the net, play media directly off your network and even run the 604 as a self-contained wireless NAS).

However as far as I know, the OS hasn't yet been opened up for anyone to play with.

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With this offer and the impending Sam & Max goodness, I'd consider joining - but as a UK resident I can't.

They seem to be limiting their consumer base for no apparent reason.

Maybe it's to do with licensing?

Nice bit of kit.

The album art feature makes this really appealing - but I'm worried about the software it's going to be packaged with.

Why can't they just have Mass-storage compliance and drag/drop transfer? On-device indexing is possible, so why not do it?

I don't want to be forced to use anything like Connect or iTunes.

Visually it is no revolution over any other player on the market. I still prefer the look of my VAIO Pocket. However, the GUI does appear to be very smart and minimalistic.

In terms of functionality, the inclusion of wifi and a larger (albeit non-widescreen) screen make it an interesting option - providing the price is acceptable.

Given the number of iterations the iPod has gone through, I'm surprised Apple haven't included such features in their range already.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the larger screen and wifi will have a negative impact on battery life - even if the wifi has the option of being disabled.

I would think it uses a combined mini-jack socket that both outputs audio and allows transfer of tracks via a USB adaptor.

I recently bought a similar generic player from Dixons for £5.

It's only 256MB, looks to be smaller than this new Shuffle. I think you can buy a 1GB version too.