Archos has a range of hard drive based players, but it isn't too happy with them being referred to as MP3 players. Partly - we suspect - because it doesn't fancy going head-to-head with Apple, Creative and Philips, but in fairness the Gmini has a number of neat features that set it apart from other music players.

The most obvious is the 2.5-inch LCD screen, which dominates the casing. It's greyscale with a blue backlight, and the idea is that you store pictures as well as music on your Gmini and use the screen to preview them, with no need to plug into a notebook or desktop PC.

In addition the Gmini has a slot for a Compact Flash card, so if you're out and about with a digital camera that uses Compact Flash there's no need to wait until you return to the office to check that your photos have come out right. Of course many cameras use another form of memory card and Archos lists an adapter as an accessory that takes the most common cards.

There are other accessories such as a remote control that also adds an FM radio, and naturally you can record from the radio in MP3 format. Archos supplies a copy of Musicmatch Jukebox Plus, which is the version of the Jukebox software for which you usually have to pay US$20 as it allows you to encode MP3s from CD.

The Musicmatch software is functionally very similar to iTunes and allows you to organize your playlists and transfer music to and from the Gmini, which is an important consideration when you have 20GB of storage space to work with: this means you can store some 4,000 tracks in high quality MP3 or 8,000 tracks in Microsoft's WMA format.

Archos makes the point that the Gmini has a smaller footprint than a floppy disc, although it is rather thicker of course. This claim is entirely correct but you'd be surprised how big a three and a half inch floppy is compared to most consumer products these days.

If you want more than a simple music player the Gmini has a lot going for it, but in many ways it's a solution looking for a problem and that makes its appeal quite limited.