The next generation media players from Archos. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. The company that introduced the first hard drive MP3 player seven years ago….has announced its Generation 5 product line…designed to let consumer take and access their digital content everywhere. The Archos 605 WiFi….can browse the Web, download movies wirelessly, act as a full featured DVR…complete with its own program guide….and act as a bridge between a PC and the family room TV….for digital content. Beyond that, says Chief Operating Officer Larry Smith…

"It has a 4.3 inch 800 by 480 screen. And rather than get into technical talk, what that means is that basically you're looking at a near HD screen when you're watching video on the device itself. It's got a touch screen and a redesigned graphic user interface that makes navigating, using the device, really simple. So very, very, very friendly look and feel and a very friendly navigational capability."

A 30 gigabyte model will cost less than 300 dollars. For a hundred dollars more the capacity is bumped up to 160 gigabytes. To take advantage of the TV recording and playback capability….consumers need to buy an add on docking station. About the potential to put a dent in Apple's overwhelming iPod market share, Smith says…

"Apple's done a great job of marketing their products and I certainly wouldn't take anything away from that. The focus for Archos is video."

Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.