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English Language User Manual
Gmini™
400
Pocket Music / Photo / Games / Video
• MPEG-4 Video Player
• MP3 & WMA Music Player
• Photo Viewer
• USB 2.0 Hard Disk
• Game player
User Manual for ARCHOS Gmini™ 400
Version 1.1
Please visit our website to download the most recent manual and software for this product.
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Table of Contents 1 INTRO - Ports, Buttons and Connections 6 2 INTRO - First Time Usage 8 2.1 Plugging in the AC Adapter 8 2.2 Turning on the Gmini 400 8 2.3 Shutting off the Gmini 400 and Battery saving features 8 2.4 Changing the Language 9 2.5 Foreign Character Sets 9 2.6 Charging the Batteries 9 2.7 Caring for the Gmini 400 10 2.8 Hardware Reset 10 3 MUSIC - Playing Music Files 11 3.1 Button Control 11 3.2 Playing Through your Stereo System 12 3.3 Artist, Album, Title … ID3 Tags 13 3.4 T
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9 VIDEO - Playing Video 29 9.1 Setting a Bookmark 30 9.2 The Resume Function 30 9.3 Display Format Settings 31 9.4 Playing Video Files from the Internet 31 10 VIDEO - Creating MPEG4 video files with your computer 32 How to create an MPEG-4 video file 32 PC Tools 32 Macintosh Users 32 10.1 Installing the PC Software 33 DivX™ Codec 33 Virtual Dub™ 33 MPG4 Translator 33 MP3 Sound Codec 34 10.2 Using MPG4 Translator 35 Select Source & Destination Files 35 Change Settings 35 Target & Priority 36 S
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15 Updating the Gmini 400 Firmware Operating System (OS) 56 Download the Update_Gmini400.AOS file 56 Read the History.txt File 56 Copy to Gmini 400 root and Update 56 16 Technical Support 58 17 Troubleshooting 60 17.1 USB Connection issues 60 17.2 Charging and Power issues 61 17.3 Gmini 400 locks up (freezes operation) or Stops 61 17.4 The Computer locks-up (freezes operation) or Stops 62 17.5 File issues, corrupted data, formatting, and partitioning 62 ® Windows 98SE & ME Running Scan-Disk (Err
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Dear Customer, ARCHOS thanks you for your choice of this exciting Gmini 400 product. With this beautiful device in your pocket, you can enjoy digital music, digital photos, games, or digital video anytime and anywhere. We are sure that your Gmini 400 will give you years of listening and viewing enjoyment. Of course you can always use it as a regular portable hard disk too for all your personal computer files. This guide will explain to you the functions of the Gmini 400. Our engineers have
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1 INTRO - Ports, Buttons and Connections a Hard disk activity indicator (red) b On indicator (green) c Battery charger indicator (green) – blinks when the battery is fully charged d On/Enter/Play/Go ► – Hold for 3 seconds to turn on the Gmini 400 e Move UP (also increases volume during media playback) f Move DOWN (also decreases volume during media playback) g Move LEFT (also plays previous song or fast reverse through a song or video) h Move RIGHT (also plays next song or fast forward through
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a Multiconnect adapter – allows for an analog audio input (Line In) b Multi-connect jack – for headphones, AV cable, or FM Remote control (optional accessory) c Microphone – for making digital voice recordings d CompactFlash™ slot – Type I compatible e USB 2.0 port (USB 1.1 compatible) to connect the Gmini 400 to your computer f Power Connector (Use only the supplied Archos power charger/adapter) 7
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2 INTRO - First Time Usage Please take the time to read though this manual. There are many things that this device can do that you may not be aware of. 2.1 Plugging in the AC Adapter • Use only the included ARCHOS charger/adapter. • Before using for the first time, charge the batteries completely. • You may use the Archos Gmini 400 while its battery is charging, but it will then take longer before the battery is completely charged. 2.2 Turning on the Gmini 400 • Hold the PLAY/ON button ► for 4
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2.4 Changing the Language The Gmini 400 interface can be set to English (default), French, German or Spanish. • To change the language, move the cursor to Setup and then click PLAY/ENTER ►. • Then move with the joystick to Display and click PLAY/ENTER ►. • Highlight the Language parameter. • Use the Right or Left button to choose the desired language. • Choose French, German, Spanish or English. • The language displayed will change immediately. • Click on the STOP/ESC button to exit this scree
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the batteries. The Gmini 400 is made with integrated batteries which are designed to last for the life of the Gmini 400. This means that you will not have to change them. If, in the exceptional case, the batteries need changing, this should only be done by an Archos technician. * depending on how you use it (start/stop/writing, etc.) 2.7 Caring for the Gmini 400 The Archos Gmini 400 is an electronic product that needs to be treated with more care than typical consumer electronic products. •
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3 MUSIC - Playing Music Files When you click on this icon in the main screen, you will be sent directly to the Music folder. Use the direction buttons to highlight one of the factory installed music selections and then Click on PLAY ►. If you hear nothing at fi rst, make sure you have adjusted the volume control on the headphone cord. By clicking on the Music icon in the main menu screen, you will enter into a ‘music only’ mode. Other playable fi le types that may be in this folder are only
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To lock the Gmini 400 buttons, press and hold the left function button for three seconds. The Gmini 400 will display the message “Buttons locked!” on the bottom of the screen. Press this again for three seconds to unlock the buttons. What the Icons indicate Status Play Order Play Mode - no icon - See section 14.2 Stopped Play once Blinks while playing Repeat playing a track Current track is Shuffl e (random) paused track selection Recording a track Playing a playlist 3.2 Playing
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3.3 Artist, Album, Title … ID3 Tags ID3 Tags are information about the recording which found inside of an MP3 music file. When someone creates an MP3 music file, he or she has the option of adding information to it. This information can include, among other things, the name of the artist (Wes Burden), the album name (Brave New World), the title of the song (Mirror), and a small image of the album cover (only jpeg images not progressive jpeg). If these data are present, the Gmini 400 will d
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from the ARCLibrary. Audio files created with the microphone will be indexed as Artist = ARCHOS and Album = Audio Recording. The ARCLibrary indexes all the music and playlists that it finds in the folders Music and Playlists on your Gmini 400’s hard drive, by using the tag information in each song. When you transfer music to your Gmini 400 from your computer, it goes directly to the Gmini 400 hard disk without the ARCLibrary knowing about the new song. Thus, in order for your new songs
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the oldest bookmarks. The next time you play the audio file, you will be presented with three options: Resume: Start playing from the bookmarked position. Ignore: Keep the bookmark but start playing from the very beginning. Clear: Clear the bookmark from this file and start playing from the very beginning. 3.6 The Resume Function When you turn on your Gmini 400 you will sometimes notice that the icon which is highlighted on the main screen is not the Browser but rather the Resume icon. This ic
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4 MUSIC - Playlists A Playlist is a list of songs that the Gmini 400 will automatically play one after the other. The Gmini 400 can load one playlist at a time into its internal memory. You can create new playlists, add or delete songs from a playlist, or Save a playlist as a fi le (fi le type .m3u) to be used another time. There is no limit to the number of playlists you can save on the Gmini 400 hard disk. Playlists are indicated by a special list icon (circled icon to the left). 4.1 Pl
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4.2 Creating a Playlist To create a Playlist, press the RIGHT button while you are in the Music browser. A second window will open on the right side to display the Playlist contents. You can now start adding songs to the current Playlist. In the left window, search for the songs you would like to add to your Playlist. Once the song is highlighted, click on the Add function button to add it to the Playlist. The song will be added to the Playlist and a small mark next to the music icon w
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Close – Closes the windows and returns to the main menu screen. Rename – Renames the current playlist. Shuffle – Randomly shuffles the order of the songs in the current playlist. Clear – Clears the contents of the current playlist. Button Move – Allows you to change the place in the list of the highlighted song. Click on Move and then click on UP or DOWN to move the song up or down the list. Click OK when finished. Button Delete – Will delete the highlighted song from the Playlist. It will not d
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5 MUSIC - Recording Music With the Gmini 400 series, you do not need a computer to create digital music files. It is capable of recording from the built-in microphone or an analog line source (ex: HiFi system, Boombox, CD Player, etc) into a ® standard Windows WAV format, either PCM (uncompressed) or ADPCM (compressed). 5.1 Cable Connections for Audio Recording Plug the multi-connect adapter into the Gmini 400 and then plug the included AV cable into the side marked Line-In as shown here. C
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5.2 Recording Procedure Before the actual audio recording begins, there is a pre-recording screen which will allow you to adjust your recording settings. 1. From the home screen, select Audio- 2. In the pre-recording screen, adjust the recording level* by clicking on Corder then click on ENTER/GO ►. the LEFT and RIGHT buttons. Click on the F3 Start button to start recording. Attention, the first time recording you should adjust your Settings. 3. Click on Settings to reveal the re- 4. Once
