The Gmini's audio quality is excellent, with neutral but ample tonal reproduction. The equalizer, however, is limited to bass and treble adjustments. The earphones are mediocre; you'd do better to upgrade them, which is usually the case with portable audio players. The formats recognized by the player are MP3 (320 kbps), WAV and WMA.

The Gmini 400 is also compatible with Media Player 9. A plug-in is supplied on the hard disk, letting you use the unit directly in Player. Apple fans who want to stray from the iPod won't be disappointed, since another plug-in makes the Archos compatible with iTunes. The Gmini 400 can also record using a built-in microphone or from any analog audio source. On the other hand, it won't encode in MP3, which is a shame. It records only in WAV and 44 KHz ADPCM. Archos still offers an FM tuner as an option; at this price that's a little stingy.

Traveling Companion

The Gmini can also serve as a storage unit for photos from your digital camera. It includes a CompactFlash slot, and an adapter for other formats is available as an option ($50). The Gmini 400 accepts JPEG and BMP formats in all sizes and all compressions except progressive. It resizes the picture if it is larger than screen size. Photos can also be copied from the computer or the built-in card reader. The quality of display is impressive given the size of the screen. You can really judge the quality of a photo and even show it to others. With its enormous capacity and high-quality screen, the Gmini will be an ideal companion for photojournalists.