I bought an Archos 605 WIFI 40GB a week ago after having carefully researched whether it will play movies with a WMV codec. I was assured by Curry's that it would, the Archos website appeared to indicate that it would and I tried several forums, too. When I got it home and downloaded a movie from the internet, after having installed the Web Browser Plug-in, I discovered it wouldn't play because the Archos would not support WMV7, which was how the movie was encoded. I have since posted on both the Archos website and the Archosfans.com website, asking for advice. I have been given some workarounds, but they are not anywhere near as convenient as having a built-in codec. If anyone has any ideas for an efficient workaround, please post on this thread. I am extremely annoyed about this and hope that Archos will produce another plugin (no doubt for purchase) to allow older encoded movies to be played. If you are thinking of buying one of these devices, be warned.

why not re-encode the movie useing windows media encoder (its free)

Many thanks. WME has also been suggested to me by posters on the Archosfans Website. I'll give it a try, provided it will also join videos having the same codec together into one composite. I've already tried some freeware which claims to do the same thing but the picture quality is very blocky. Maybe I've set it up wrong.

you can use windows movie maker to recode. plus you can use it to recode the .mpg files and that way you don't have get the plugin

Thanks tazmanix, that works fine, too, but is a little slow. I have since found that some of the movies are also encoded as .mov files, which works on the 605 using the plug-in. Thanks for your interest. Problem solved for the moment. I have also asked Archos whether I can unzip files on the 605 - no reply so far.

Archos do not have a great reputation for customer support and service I'm afraid.

One of the reasons I plumped for a Cowon ahead of their players when I bought a PMP about 18 months ago. Mind you, the 605 wi-fi wasn't out then ..... that may have required more thought! But then, the Q5 is due from Cowon soon as well ...... decisions, decisions!