Rating: 
Summary: Definite winner for the photo/music buff
Review: I purchased the Archos AV320 in August for our upcoming camping expedition to Colorado. I usually use a laptop to download my digital photos but this time, I didn't want to lug it around. Since half the campsites we were staying at had electricity, I just had to watch my charge. It worked perfectly, supplying unlimited use of the flash cards with the added bonus of supplying some favorite tunes! It's a little delicate but you can use a portable tv case to protect it somewhat while traveling. The case was from Radio Shack and worked fine. I haven't tried the video for the gizmo, it wasn't my reason for purchasing. For photo shoots and music I got about 8 hours of use per charge.
When we stopped to visit friends and relatives, we were able to share our trip by hooking it up to their TV. Awesome product, I love it!!
Rating: 
Summary: AV320 Does Exactly What it is supposed to do!!
Review: After reading so many of the poor reviews I wanted to through my hands up and scream. You people must have got hold of bad equipment,damaged it somehow or are just generally clueless. I've had mine for a month. I backed up my entire hard drive from my laptop on the AV320. I plug it into my TV and record old Seinfeld and Raymond shows...or Chapell's Show or South Park. I plug it into the DVD and record full lenght movies to take with me when I travel. I've already dumped my punny 500 song collection from my Dell DJ to the AV320 and I have tons of room to spare. Now, granted it gets complicated if you want to rip a DVD to AVI on your computer to later pull over to the AV320, but there are legions of 3rd party software out there on the market that make if doable if not exactly fun.
Stop your caterwauling or donate your device to a smart person today. (FYI I'm just having some fun with you here...no need to bomb my email or anything ;)
Rating: 
Summary: Caveat Emptor:Poor Quality Control-Horrible Customer Service
Review: Anyone considering purchasing this or any Archos product should be aware that based on my experience (4 Archos jukeboxes) their quality control is spotty at best. This used to be bearable because they used to have a fairly liberal warranty policy and would repair or exchange defective products no questions asked. That has changed. Now you have to go through an elaborate process of providing documentation of purchase, mailing the unit back at your own expense, insured, and waiting in silence while they decide what to do. In my case the little joystick that is the key control of the unit fell off. When I returned the AV320 to them for repair (they would not simply send me the part) they decided to keep the 80 gb hard drive I had installed in my AV320. Because they claim installing the drive voided the warranty they now say that they will not return MY drive to me unless I pay them $125 for the repair. Won't take back the replacement they sent me, won't send me a replacement part, won't give me my property back. Worst customer service I've ever seen. I think it would be a serious mistake to buy anything from them.
Rating:
Summary: Setting the standard for all portable players!
Review: At last I have received my av320 after a 1 month waiting line. This baby does everything previous archos players did...only better. Video is very clean and smooth and the demo movie included in the player showed no pixelation and was very sharp. With its 3.8" lcd screen no longer do you have to squint or strain your eyes to see video or pictures. Picture zooming has been greatly improved over the previous archos multimedia players as now you can zoom to a huge 3x times over instead of the small 2x zoom from previous JBM models. Sound is excellent but could use a little bit of more fine tuning options which can be fixed with future firmware. The bundled DVR100 is able to record from any video source with a composite or s-video connection be it a DVD player, VCR, camcorder or TV. With the DVR100 you can record video on the fly. No longer do you have to rip and encode dvd movies to your computer, just simply plug the video cables to the DVR100 and to your dvd player, press play on your dvd player and then hit record on your archos, recording in real time. Its that easy. It encodes video using the divx codec. Overall I was very impressed with its quality in design and excellent interface navigation menus. Although I gave it 5 stars (no regrets!) I will list the "cons": First, the player can become pretty hot like a hot cofee mug, especially when viewing video for an extended amount of time. Second, its thick 1.25", and heavy. Third, and no surprise like the previous archos players, the bundled headphones [are bad], so I suggest you buy some good headphones. Fourth, the navigation joystick can easily be accidently moved, changing the song you were listening to to the next track as I found out. Fifth and last, I don't like the placement of 'headphone jack in' which sits upright of the player. I would have preffered it be placed on the side so as to cause less obstruction of the screen. But overall THIS is what all mp3/mp4 players should be (Apple take note). It may seem pricey for a lot of people but it is worth every penny.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of money
Review: Do not buy this!!!
It craps out in about a year, of course once the warranty is up.
Like several other people, mine doesn't turn on unless it wants to and it shuts off when it wants to. The battery life also lasts about 10 min. after four days of charging it. From the time I got it to now, it kept getting worse and worse. It is nowhere near the money that this thing is going for. Buy an ipod or something sturdy with good battery life. If you really want video, wait awhile until better video technology comes out, because you can only watch video on this in mpeg4, which is hard to encode and doesn't get a good picture.
Rating:
Summary: Finally!!
Review: Finally, Archos gets it!! With this model, Archos has addressed most of the drawbacks of previous models. This product is actually in a class of its own! It does everything it claims to do, and does it well! The interface has also been drastically improved, though it is not obvious how to use the 3 "soft" buttons at first since the buttons are aligned vertcally at the right while the functions are listed horizontally at the bottom of the screen. However, a quick glance at the button descriptions in the quick-start guide is all you need to understand how everything works. Yes there is actually a quick start guide in addition to the well-written manual. The interface is much improved by the addition of a joystick. Also, the Operating System now allows file-handling functions such as rename, delete, etc to be done right on the jukebox, whereas a PC was required before. Also as with previous models, the jukebox looks like a hard-disk when connected to the PC which means transferring files back and forth is as easy as drag-and-drop (as opposed to using proprietary programs). The USB 2.0 connection is extremely fast and definitely a plus.AUDIO: My biggest problem with previous models from Archos (as well as most competing products) was that they needed pre-amplified mics to make live recordings since the only audio input was line-in. Also live recordings in previous models tended to pick up hard-disk noise when using the internal mic, and some hum while using the line-in input. This model finally adds support for non-amplified mics. The audio input jack doubles as line-in and mic-in. Live recording is now very clean with no hard-disk noise, even when using the internal mic. I recently recorded a live concert with fantastic results. This model adds official support for playing WMA files. UPDATED: The latest OS update (free on their website) adds support for playing AND recording in WAV format (in addition to the MP3 format), which took care of the only major complaint I had with this model. You now have a full blown DAT recorder in your pocket! This update also allows you to do some basic audio and video editing on the unit itself. Way to go Archos!! VIDEO: Video looks very good indeed on the large 3.8" LCD screen. May not exactly be DVD-quality as they claim, but its darn close! The included DVR module allows you to record MP4 video on the fly or you can convert videos to MP4 on your PC and transfer them to the unit. You can also use an optional camera accessory (AVCam 300) to capture live MP4 video to the hard-disk, in effect converting the jukebox to a VHS-quality camcorder. PHOTOS: Pictures look great! The unit supports both JPEG (non-progrssive) and BMP. You can use the optional memory card readers to upload directly into the jukebox bypassing your PC, or you can download pictures from your PC. Or use the optional camera accessory (AVCam 300) to take live photos to the hard-disk at a 3.3 Megapixel resolution. DRAWBACKS: The main problem is that battery life is less than 4 hours when watching videos. And since the battery is a proprietary non-removable Li-Ion battery, you can't just pop out the old battery and put in a new one. Of course, if you (like me) use it mostly for music, then the battery life is a healthy 8-9 hours especially if you allow the LCD to stay off (it goes off automatically after a few seconds). Also for the hefty price tag, Archos should have included the optional wired remote that adds FM Radio support. The lack of an included carrying case is puzzling especially since the cheaper Archos models all came with cases. Go out and buy a case right away to protect that huge LCD screen. A final (minor) complaint is the increased size as compared to the older models and the much smaller iPod. In an effort to save some money Archos uses standard 2.5" notebook drives instead of the 1.8" hard disks used in the Apple iPods. However the upside to this is that if you fill up the hard-disk, upgrading to 40, 60 or even 80GB using a standard notebook hard disk is not too difficult or expensive. There are many sites online that give you detailed instructions on how to do this. Of course, opening the jukebox will void your Archos warranty .. VERDICT: Overall, the ease of use, the features, as well as the quality is miles ahead of any other competing product as well as older Archos models. Despite the minor drawbacks, Archos has done an outstanding job. This jukebox is well worth the hefty price tag, especially considering the new 30GB Apple iPod costs just a little less than this and plays MP3 files only with no recording ability whatsoever.
Rating:
Summary: Really good player/recorder
Review: Finally, I found the device, which does most of things I was looking to have in mp3 player and does it fine. It plays mp3, wma, wav audio formats, records mp3 and wave formats, plays video with good quolity on ntse or pal TV as well as on the internal screen, has an optional FM remote control and works as external hard drive with no drivers. The user interface is really good, I compare it with Creative nomad, the interface on this player is much more user friendly. Yes, it is pretty big and havy, however not as bad as I thought. You will need to buy a case for it, however there are quite many available on the internet, and they are chip. And finally, nice surprise, the description sais that it does not have a replasable battery, however the internal battery is very easy accessable and can be easily replased. Just one screw and you open the battery door. It is possible to buy the battery from on-line stores for really good price and I already got one as a backup for long flights. So, 6 hours of video...
Rating:
Summary: The 1st great all around device that works..
Review: First, I also have the Archos JB Multimedia with all accessories and also tried the Neo Jukebox. Waiting for the new RCA Lyra to compare.... but this little device is the first useful on the market. The at least for me not readable display of the previous models is replaced with a decent 3.8" display. Even movies are enjoyable. Tried it on several flights and battery life in mixed use did let me enjoy one 2 hr movie and about 2 hrs of music before recharge was necessary. Sound quality is great over my car stereo. Easy to record movies with AV module, S-VHS recording is even better for clearer image quality. I've changed the drive right away to 80 gig, very easy if you follow instructions. But the unit has some BIG drawbacks:
The case is cheap plastic and scratches very easy, the joystick is not the best either, nor the buttons. All a little fragile for guys with big hands. The plugs are randomly put around the device and have no(immediate readable) markings. Very confusing to hook up the power supply or headphones or AV In/ Out cables. The display has a cheap plastic cover and scratches very easy. I sticked screen protector on the screen. With more data on the device it slows down. At 60 gig now I need to have patience sometimes. The device needs a travel case and additional external batteries which are now only available in Europe. But alltogether a great device......
Rating:
Summary: So Long RCA Jukebox, I Have A New Love!
Review: I bought the Archos 20 gig expecting nothing much. Was I wrong!!!! I am blown away by this gizmo as it compares to the RCA Lycra video jukebox!!!! It even competes with my Sony TV/VCR handheld which takes a direct digital signal in quality. The screen is pure clarity! Beautiful! The unit is heavier, very sturdy. The video is all I'm interrested in, but if you put music on it and the image data is with the music file, that image (artists' CD cover) will show while the song plays. Back to the video...easy as punch. The 20 GB (AV320) comes with a remote control and DVR attachment! You get your money's worth! Recording from the TV's digital cable box rendered beautiful images. Especially the cable channel! I suppose the quality of the source determines the quality of the playback, and cable movies must be digital because they looked like DVD quality!!! I then made the haunting attempt to do what I could not on the RCA - transfer movies from my computer to play back on the Archos. Unlike the RCA, the Archos comes with software that makes this easy, so in one step I did it and it worked!!!!! The sound is awesome!!!! Yes, it's bulky, but that's because it's using a laptop hard drive whereas the iPod uses a smaller one. It's like carrying a small brick around. But the iPod is a music player, and that's why I use it for that and this for video. So far one downside: A case doesn't come with it and won't be available until the end of the month from their website for an additional $40. I'm going to hold on to my screen cover that came with it until then. This is why I slave away at work! This is sooo cool!
Rating:
Summary: This thing is hot
Review: i don't have this but i read a review about it and this player/ recorder is the only one that alows you to record dvd's or any copywrited material and its fun because most recorders don't alow you to copy copywrited material. I Love it for that reason.
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