It is without doubt that the king of MP3 players is the Apple Ipod and many users including ourselves point to the user experience as the reason that we pay more for the Apple, indeed quite a lot more, but what is user experience and do any other MP3 Jukeboxes come close?

The Archos Gmini is the latest in a veritable stream of MP3 and new media jukeboxes from the company, but this one is different unlike its predecessors the Gmini really has some plus points, the first thing that strikes you is the large screen in fact the 2.5 inch 160 x 160 resolution monochrome screen is one of the largest on the MP3 player market and that's even more impressive compares the Archos Gmini's overall size 68 x 78 x 23 mm.

Holding the Archos Gmini in the palm of your hand really brings home just home small it is, an Ipod fills your hand comfortably but the Gmini allows you to clutch it easily and its not cheap feeling either, the materials give a feel of good workmanship and quality on a par with Apples masterpiece its fair to say we were impressed and somewhat surprised after having spent time with the last set of Archos products.

The Gmini builds on the passion of gadgeteers for miniaturisation and as such is a real success, packing at 20gb hard drive into the Gmini giving enough room for XX tracks of MP3 and the Gmini also supports WMA with both formats running at up to 320kbit/s, the battery is a little disappointing only giving 8 hours replay in our tests but that equals the Ipod. Now an MP3 player must fulfil its primary function well before we get on to the extras, the Archos Gmini produces excellent audio quality with a good crisp bass perhaps a little too edgy for those who like jazz or easy listening genres, mid range has good clarity with a lively top end, the line output is of sufficient level to drive a HiFi system in fact a much better proposition than the Ipod.

And so to the extras, the Gmini has many, firstly it can record both MP3 and WMA for all of its various inputs, from analogue and digital inputs its possible to encode up to 192kbit/s, the internal buffer which ensures no skipping during playback also allows for good recordings which if you take the optional FM tuner can even get the first 30 seconds of a track before you pushed the record button.

One of the killer applications for us is the inclusion of a CF memory slot, this could be used to transfer music on and off the device but as the Archos Gmini is a big hard drive we found it a great place to put photos from our digital cameras when the CF cards get full. getting tracks on and off the  Gmini is via USB 2.0 for a fester connection and the player is supplied with Musicmatch jukebox which is a good MP3 software solution.

But one item that stands out and made LP consider this over an Ipod mini is its interface, the operating system on the Archos is simply fantastic, just opening the main menu is enough to tell you all you need to know, no need for the manual here each icon does exactly what it says on the tin and browsing through your MP3 collection is Childs play with the ability to build playlists and add or delete tracks. During LP's week long test of the Gmini he almost gave up using his Ipod totally preferring the interface of the Gmini and its significantly reduced size, sure it would be nice to have a colour screen and for the memory slot to take cards other than CF maybe SD? but as a package the Gmini is superb.

The Archos Gmini does have 2 other features which we found a bit gimmicky the voice recorded is useful but not without attaching an external microphone (the inbuilt one is poor) plus the photo viewer shows up the low resolution of the screen and is possibly a step in the wrong direction for Archos.

So the million dollar question would LP give up his beloved Ipod? well in short no, but if purchasing today, the Gmini at £150 beats the Ipod on ease of use, size and audio quality and at £290 the 20gb Ipod is over £100 more, so the shock result if you are looking for an MP3 player today LP recommends the Archos Gmini, long live the new King!

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