Rating: 
Summary: How music saved my life
Review: It's not an iPod. It isn't sleek, sexy, and white. It doesn't boast a fancy interface or clever dragging-your-finger-across-roughened-bits controls or third-party aftermarket add-ons or anything like that. Let's be honest with ourselves, the Archos is not made to be a fashion statement. It's made by people who want something to tinker with.
I purchased mine retail about 18.545 months ago and I can't say that I've ever been seriously unhappy with it. It weighs a ton and is the size of a couple of packs of cigarettes at least, so carrying it around gave me a nice little workout. The LCD screen is high enough contrast to show up well even under the searing light of the midsummer sun, and though the controls are a bit plasticky and sometimes hard to deal with, the interface is intuitive to anyone who's ever used a cellular telephone or digital wristwatch.
The very first thing I did when I purchased it was toss in a set of 2100 mA-h AA batteries to replace the cheap stock 1500 mA-h that came with the player. This improved battery life enormously and I was quite pleased with the result. Soon I was running from gun-toting thugs and making fast getaways with expensive imported vehicles with my very own and nigh-neverending soundtrack of thwomping electronica and discordant symphonic music.
It was worth it.
Alas, after a few too many close shaves at the hands of international drug cartels, my little Archos' hard drive was beginning to crash and act fitfully. In despair and leery of Archos' famous indifference to customer support, I purchased a Fujitsu laptop hard drive of slightly greater capacity and performed a delicate and tricky operation to swap the two. After many hours and some false starts (one involving a near-Frankensteinian scene in which I was holding batteries in place with my bare hands while tweaking contacts and shouting, "YOU NEVER WALKED AWAY FROM ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE! FIGHT! NYARRRRGH!"), I managed to revive the Archos and was reunited with my bass-heavy Eurotunes.
With the new hard drive and the high capacity batteries, I can run my little Archos (geekily named Daath) for at least fourteen hours straight as a MP3 player. It performs capably as an external portable hard drive and has in its life turned in a far better performance than any paltry iPod could have.
In short, if you are not afraid of getting your hands dirty or of finding yourself on some moonless night in an airless crypt muttering arcane words from eldritch tomes while trying to breathe life into your Archos Jukebox Recorder, then this is the portable music device for you. If, on the other hand, you wish to eschew its fundamental ease of tweaking, simplicity of controls, sturdiness of manufacture, and resistance to all weapons short of a direct tactical nuclear strike, then by all means, get yourself something designed by some prissy latte-drinking, turtleneck-wearing font designer from California.
I, on the other hand, will drive into the sunset with my richly-accessorized imported getaway vehicle while listening to the latest and finest music on a device that is so simple it could hardly fail.
Rating: 
Summary: Avoid Archos - The Product and Their Service is Junk
Review: Like so many others, I found the Archos to be money down the drain. It was dead as a brick within a couple of months, and the company's approach with customers in this predicament is to hide, and then duck. They definitely don't want to talk to customers. I mailed it in for service -- all the way from Iraq, where I was deployed -- and got the box back stamped "refused."
Rating:
Summary: This thing is Junk
Review: I bought the Archos 2.0. New. It did not work; wouldn't turn on. Sent it in for repair (Archos has no 1-800 number, which means a long wait on your dime). Returned the recorder, at my expense. Weeks and weeks passed--much longer than the 10 days Archos represented as the average turn-around time. When the recorder was returned, it was 10, not a 20. Archos returned a cheaper model. Called them up--same routine: 35-minute wait. Answer was, "We do not have any more 20 models. We can not send you a replacement."
If this type of service and product quality appeals to you, then by all means buy from Archos. On the other hand, if you want a recorder that works and has 3X longer battery life, buy a Sony.
Rating:
Summary: Four and a half stars really.
Review: I have owned this product for quite a while now, and I still love it. It's small enough that I can bring it everywhere with me (and I do), and it has more than enough room on it. I gave it only four stars for several reasons:
-Although the battery life is great at first, after many recharges, they do start to stay charged for less and less time, so you will need to buy new ones. (For the record though, I have no complaints about the amount of time it takes to charge the batteries. I usually plug it in overnight.)
-The headphones provided are of poor quality. No surprise here. Simply throw them away and use the ones you probably already own. I noticed one customer advised people to hang on to them: "don't lose the headphones it comes with cause volume adjustment is very hard on the player itself" ignore that. Volume adjustment on the player is not hard at all. While a song is playing, you can use the up and down arrows to adjust volume... it's not in the least difficult. I'm sure he/she was going to the menu to change the volume and was unaware of the other option.
-About a month after I bought my mp3 player, I dropped it. After that it had several problems (ie. the screen not working and it not staying on). oops... I'm sure it was mainly my fault for dropping it, but considering my dependance on it for my music listening needs I would love it were slightly more durable. At that point I called customer service and sent it to them to have it fixed for one flat rate (which, i'm sorry, but I don't remember). Instead of fixing it, they sent me a new one... no complaints here. I recommed that if you do send it to them that you make sure you have your songs on a computer first. Just in case they send you a new one and don't transfer all that you have on it.
Over all, this product has been completly useful since day one and if I were to drop it again or lose it, I wouldn't hesitate to just buy another of the same exact thing.
Rating: 
Summary: Yeah, it's good
Review: it's very nice. Get it if you cansince the other reviews explain all the good things, i'll just let you in on the other stuff/ advice -don't lose the headphones it comes with cause volume adjustment is very hard on the player itself -20GB is an overkill, i have 800 songs on mine and that's 2.3GB -watch out for the warranty sticker. Mine fell off -get a piece of cardboard or something of the sort and put it in the case in front of the player, it'll keep it from getting turned on and stuff while it's in the case okay that's all
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