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Photos and reviews: Archos 405 & 605 WiFi

CNET Senior Editor Donald Bell shows a selection of annotated photos of the Archos 605 WiFi and Archos 405 portable video players.

Donald Bell Senior Editor / How To
Donald Bell has spent more than five years as a CNET senior editor, reviewing everything from MP3 players to the first three generations of the Apple iPad. He currently devotes his time to producing How To content for CNET, as well as weekly episodes of CNET's Top 5 video series.
Donald Bell
Photo of Donald Bell holding Archos 605 WiFi PVP.
Whatever Apple's bringing, the Archos 605 is ready to meet it head-on. Click the photo to launch the Archos 605 WiFi slide show. Corinne Schulze / CNET

Jet-lagged travelers of the world rejoice! The latest portable video players from Archos promise new cures for inflight boredom, and the prices are staggeringly cheap. We've just posted full reviews of the (CNET Editors' Choice Award-winning) Archos 605 WiFi and Archos 405 portable video players and regardless of what next Wednesday's announcement reveals from the Apple camp, I think it's safe to say that these new Archos players will top more than a few holiday wish lists.

The Archos 405 may not have WiFi, but the little guy's price tag is too good to be true. Click the photo for the slide show. Corinne Schulze / CNET Networks

How can we be so sure? For starters, the 605 WiFi includes a shortcut for wirelessly downloading purchased or rented movies from Cinema Now, including all the content from Cinema Now's adult site (alladultchannel.com). iTunes is great and all, but I seriously doubt that Apple is ready to integrate porn into the squeaky clean iTunes universe. Secondly, both the 605 WiFi and 405 can switch between multiple USB modes, making them platform agnostic while maintaining their ability to play DRM-protected music and video content. Don't get me wrong, I love my iPod, but I also love companies like Archos that let my ripped DVD files and DRM-protected WMA files live on the same player.

To take a closer look, check out our separate slide shows for the Archos 605 WiFi and for the Archos 405.