Rating: 
Summary: Strictly ok
Review: This is an ave. product. I had this for 3 months and the thing stopped working. So I mail it to Archos (the tech support was quite helpful) - and they mail me a new one. I then left for Bombay, India where in about 15 days it broke down again. Of course, expectedly Archos did not have a service center in India - they asked me to mail it to Taiwan. So, I called Archos when I got back to the US. They asked me the serial number - only the replacement one they sent did not have one. So after much headache, they finally asked me to ship it and shipped me a new one. I had mailed them the USB cable, which they did not bother mailing back. It is a 2-way cable - not available easily. They sent me a cable promptly. The third one too broke down and I did not bother to send it to them. The sound quality is good. The headphones they send are really pathetic. To be fair to Archos, their customer support wasn't bad at all - and they were helpful. But the product itself is bulky - the one I had had an 8 MB buffer, which I thought would be good enough while jogging. I was dead wrong. The thing would freeze and skip often and I had to go back to my Sony G-protection CD Walkman. If I had not repeatledly used it whilst jogging - there probably wouldn't be a problem. The thing is also kind of heavy - it is as heavy as a small stone. But my friend has it - and he uses it mainly in the car through the cassette player and sometimes on campus - and he is quite happy with it. In the end, if you are looking for a cheap HD player and are basically a couch potato then this player will not disappoint you; else I highly recommend that you give it a pass. I now intend to buy the Rio Nitrus - it does look like a good product.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Feature Set
Review: I've been using one of these steadily for about a year now. It is a fantastic device at an excellent price, and I have no regrets about buying it. The only shortcoming it has, just to get it out of the way, is weight. It's larger than some MP3 players out there, including some with similar capacity, like the new iPods. However, I think it has some features that give the iPod a run for its money, especially at this price. #1: RECORDING. The Archos Recorder does not compromise on this feature. It has a built in mic but also digital AND analog line-in ports, so you can record from ANY source. This is handy for digitizing records, doing interviews, or recording streaming audio content from your computer. Just hook up a cable between the headphone port and the line in and you can literally record anything you can listen to. You will need a miniplug-to-miniplug, MALE/MALE cable to do this, which is not included, but costs only a couple bucks at Radio Shack. The Archos records NATIVELY in MP3 format, with adjustable quality. Many so-called MP3 player/recorders record in some other proprietary format which needs to be converted later. Many cannot even play back their own recordings. The Archos recorder gets it right on every count. Incredibly useful. #2: USB 2.0 with Mac/PC compatibility built in. Again, the Archos just gets it right, plain and simple. Many players, including the iPod, require you to manage your MP3 files through a music playing program on your computer. Not the Archos. Just plug in the Archos and it appears as a hard drive attached to your computer. You don't even need to install any drivers. Simply manage files on it like you would any files on any hard drive. I really enjoy being able to move, organize, rename, delete files the simplest way possible. And USB 2.0 is fantastic. It's backward-compatible with all USB ports, so you can count on the Archos working on any USB-enabled Mac or PC you have. *AND* if you are lucky enough to have a USB 2.0 card in your PC, you can take advantage of the high-speed connections of USB 2.0. Did I mention that with the simple hard-drive connection there is no copy-protection scheme whatsoever? You can copy files to and from as many computers as you want. You can even store non-MP3 files. I use the Archos as an emergency backup, and to shuttle files back and forth to work. Is there anything it can't do?? :) #3: ROCKBOX. What is Rockbox? Well, to put it simply, it's an alternative operating system for your Archos. The Archos was designed to allow other programmers to replace its internal software if they wished, and an independent consortium of Open Source programmers has done just that. Their OS is actually a huge improvement over the Archos OS. It increases battery life, improves the user interface, and gives you lots of new options. Now that Rockbox supports recording, there is no reason not to replace the Archos OS with Rockbox. Just type "Rockbox" into Google the day you receive your Archos, and load it up immediately. #4. BATTERY AND DURABILITY. This thing is incredibly solid. Not only is the construction sturdy, it's protected by thick rubber bumpers that will cushion a fall. You can place the unit face down on a tabletop, but the screen and buttons will not touch the surface, because the bumpers extend out from the case just enough to protect them. It's an elegant design that, once again, just works. The battery life, in my experience, is fantastic. I haven't measured the precise life of a charge, because frankly, I've never run out of juice. The 4 AA rechargeables inside are easy to reach without any tools, and carry enough juice to get me through a day or two of running around town with my headphones on. In this regard, the slighly larger size of the Archos pays off. If maximum portability is your 1st priority, then you should consider a smaller player. But then again, I don't think the iPod is small enough to strap to your arm and job with either. Flash memory players are definitely the way to go if what you want most is a small/light unit. But if what you want is a high-capacity player, with serious recording capability, a good-size screen with an easy interface, solid construction and great battery life, you cannot go wrong with this unit. In the year since it was released, nothing else has come close for me. Some people have reported problems, but I have experienced none. Neither have my girlfriend or best friend, both of whom bought one too.
Rating: 
Summary: There is really NO WARRANTY
Review: Archos doesnt respond to warranty requests. Reading on the web I am not alone- even folks in the 14 day period have trouble. Read the usenet- I have an expensive box with a dead hard drive, on warranty, but cant get any action out of Archos. It is too bad because the product performed well for 8 months but at $37.00 a month cost of ownership DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM ARCHOS. warnerr@digitalvideolightwave.com
Rating:
Summary: Thank you Archos, for saving my life.
Review: 10/10. Hands down. I gave this gift from god a high rating because of its durability, battery life, cd sound quality, and its simple menu system. -The Archos Jukebox is extremely durable. I threw it at the ground once in rage and it came back unscathed. Its been dropped countless times by my friends, and still functions. -It also has surprisingly long battery life. Plus you don't need to buy 4 AA batteries every 10 hours because of the NiMH batteries and charger. You just charge it up at night and in the morning its ready to rock and roll again. -Its sound quality, OH MY GOD. It is so good. Its like listening to a CD player. -When I look at a menu for an mp3 player, I like it simple. Why must Apple's iPod have such a complex menu structure? I don't know but the Archos' menu system kicks ass. End of discussion. Overall 10/10!
Rating: 
Summary: It's fine, but...
Review: Here's the thing.. I may just be spoiled and am used to high-end mp3 players, but I really think this is only an average player. The overall size of the unit is quite big. It's like carrying a computer hard drive around in your pocket all day, and then putting about 1 or 2 inches of useless plastic over it. The overall shape and size of the Archos is way too bulky for my preference. It looks more like a bomb to me, and not an mp3 player. Secondly, I found the sound quality to be sub-par compared to other players. I ripped an entire nirvana CD at the highest possible quality, and found that my iPod and my iRiver Slimx-550 still sounded better. Why? I have a feeling that this is because the amplifier in the unit is a bit weaker than those found in the iPod, for example. This is not a bad thing if you are a whimpy listener and only listen at medium volumes. I, on the other hand, have practically made it a goal to become deaf, and this unit won't help me accomplish that feat. I found the Archos easy to control in my testing of it, however it was lacking in the "quick and easy" department. The controls are a bit awkward and hard to initiate unless you have the unit infront of you. If you just want to go to the next song on your list with the unit in your pocket, only experienced listeners of this unit will be able succeed in that. I constantly had to pull the thing out of my pockets and look at what I was doing. The unit is just too bulky and too complicated to understand without using your sense of sight. My last complaint about this unit, while not a big one for most people, is the community. I am a Linux user, and when I did research on this mp3 player to see if I could get some 3rd party apps to get this thing direct-linked to my linux system, it was no-go. I really wish this player had a bigger community, or else I'd have maybe kept this player. In the long run, however, this player is still average. For the price, you get a nice package and you can't go wrong with that. The capacity of this unit is quite high for the price, and that's a good thing. However, I think that in this day and age, it isn't worth the money you save to get a player of such a lower quality. That is just my opinion. I am sure many people would like to beg to differ, but for a high-end music goer like me, I need something smaller and of higher quality. Can this unit benefit? It sure can! Just make sure that if you ever buy this, that you are not expecting to cary this in your pocket for on-the-run sort of things, or for school. For that kind of a unit, I'd go for an iPod or the new iRiver device coming out soon. On the low end, get the newest Mp3CD player from iRiver, the SlimX 550. It's a great CD player and has features not found on the iPod and other similar units. I hope this review helped. Overall, this is an average mp3 player. The reason it gets this average score is for the price that you pay to get such a high-storage device. Many features, such as the size, and sound quality, need improving, but you get what you pay for. :)
Rating:
Summary: 1 year later
Review: Yep, This is one of the best purchases I have made. My only quam is the lack of sofistication in the menus. Nonetheless they are revealing. Also there is no universal shufle...just shuffle within a folder. I love to go around copying files from my friends computers. I am very glad I did not buy the Sony. And dont jog with it. It is after all a hard drive, people.
Rating:
Summary: Works great with modifications, out of the box, not so great
Review: I bought a 6gb Archos model and upgraded it to 40gb (Hitachi 40gb 9.5mm 2.5"). With a little carefull work and a total cost of $250 I now have a great MP3 player for half the cost of the 40gb iPod. Check out this link for an upgrade guide:
..... Before and after the upgrade the device would skip and lockup.
Archos was of no help at all. It was unusable. Then I discovered an Open Source Project that wrote replacement firmware for the Archos that fixes all of the bugs and makes the system easier to use and more flexible. The Rockbox firmware is for the Archos Jukebox 5000, 6000, Studio, Recorder and FM Recorder MP3 players. Check it out here:
...... Since upgrading the firmware and the disk drive I love this player. If you don't upgrade to the Rockbox firmware, keep your reciept handy. Good luck.
Rating: 
Summary: a great player, but not completely sure...
Review: First of all, I was worried about buying this player. There were a lot of negative reviews, and I wasn't absolutely sure that it would work with my computer. The good news is, for a month or so I have not had any major problems with this. 1. Every song in each album is automatically organized alphabetically. Who wants to listen to tracks in alphabetical order? Seriously.
BUT, if you use a Mac, which I do, iTunes will automatically make music files with the track number in the title, eliminating the problem. 2. I have not been able to figure out how to make playlists within the player or save things I have recorded from external sources. But, I haven't tried too hard. 3. The manual is AWFUL. It is confusing, poorly laid out, and hard to use. 4. Be careful of what you are actually buying. I did not buy my product at Amazon, but at a different retail store. No extra batteries were included, and the product did NOT include a carrying case. 5. I use a Mac, not Windows. I will assure any Mac users that this product DOES work with mac osx and there ARE drivers for Jaguar. The plugin for iTunes is also particularly helpful. 6. The player does not accept certain characters in song titles, artist names, etc. You cannot import anything with a slash or question mark, for instance. This isn't too annoying, but it took a while to figure out why certain songs were not importing. 7. Another strange thing for mac users: whenever you import tracks, there will be a nonfuinctioning duplicate of the song that is called the same thing with an underscore in front of it. Again, not particularly annoying, but you have to go into the player and manually delete these extranneous files. Okay, the reason I did not give this product a five was because of the strange quirks, the awful documentation, and the confusing and buggy interface. It functions perfectly otherwise: the quality of the music is great, it is incredibly portable, and the battery life is pretty good as well. I am not sure if I should have spent the large amount of money, but there is pretty much no other alternative for a mac user with no firewire or usb 2.0 (it does work with the old USB, by the way). Also, it is working so reliably that I am not sure that I should have purchased an extra warranty. But that's my fault, not Amazon's. I might recommend the iPod instead of this product, if you are willing to spend that EXTRA money and have hardware that is not as pathetic as mine. :-)
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't be more satisfied
Review: This gem is the best electronic device purchase I've made in 40 years. No, it's not supermodel thin like the iPod but the beauty is under the skin! I selected it for its line-in recording ability, portable MP3 playback while exercising and office/home data file transfer. It performs all of these in a completely intuitive manner. Forget PDAs, this is the device I don't leave home without. Battery life is amazing using standard replaceable AA cells. Just works and works great - no frustration and so refreshing not to be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: The Pros and Cons...depend on YOU
Review: Well to start out with, to be looking at such a sofisticated MP3 player, you must be either:
-Unaware of your purchase
-A serious Music fan
-A serious Technological fan Your computer has to be fairly updated to run the software, because the average new computer doesn't have a 2.0 USB drive. If you weren't aware, 20 GB is the equivalent of about 5,000 songs! Not only are you going to be 3 years older by the time you download all of those, you'll prolly end up in jail after downloading THAT many songs! But on the FLIP side, this "Jukebox" is probably about 250% sturdier than others, and who knows, maybe you DO have 5,000 songs to listen to! If you are planning to buy this as your first MP3 player, DON'T. Buy a less expensive one, and try it. The very inexpensive ones will be [cheaper]. One more thing: If you want this, but it's not a top priority, then wait awhile. A whole new plateau of MP3 players is about to emerge, and they are more than any normally functioning human should need. So if you can, you should wait a few months until this product isn't the top of the line anymore. But it's your decision!
| 
