I also bought one of these, and have found the problems you discussed. I also noticed many more problems that were quickly fixed by updates. It seems the tech people are working to make this a good product. I have called them 3 times, and got a tech all three times within 5 minutes. The current problems I believe will be fixed.
I also purchased an Archos 20 gig studio player / recorder for my wife and found it had less than 1/2 the flash ram, and as a result, tended to skip when jogging. The tech people were far harder to get than EMI, like 1 out of 6 times. The buttons on this one takes a doctorate degree to figure out. This one was rated as excellent by many. While it has more than 3 times the storage, it sucks at least that many times.
Bottom line, I will see what happens with the next updates before I burn this product to the ground. All products have their issues (Just look on their users boards and see). Also, most all TV's, Stereo's, VCR's, DVD's, Microwave ovens, and yes, MP3 players are made in China, Taiwon, Singapore and other places that we thing are reserved for junk products.
We somehow believe that something should function like a $800.00 unit, sound like a $1,000.00 unit, and cost less than $100.00 bucks. And if it doesn't, than we accuse the makers of a cheap product made somewhere in Asia minor!
