Rating: Summary: Best MP3 Player out on the market!!! Review: The Archos 6GB Jukebox is a gift from the gods! I got this for myself as a graduation gift when I went to college and it was the best investment I've ever made. Why spend [price] dollars for a 128 MB player that only plays 4 hours of music, when for an extra hundred you can walk around with every MP3 you have! I am a college student at the University of Florida and take my Archos Jukebox with me to campus, to the library to study, and drive around town without ever listening to the same song, thanks to the wonderful shuffle option the menu provides. Uploading songs are as easy as connecting your Jukebox via USB cable and dragging the songs to your Jukebox hard drive. The batteries last about 8 hours and can easily be recharged thanks to an adaptor -- great because now I can't afford to buy batteries!! If you know how to turn a computer on, and how to cut and paste files, then you can use the Archos Jukebox. And don't let the picture fool you....the Jukebox fits in your pocket, but it is a little heavier than you would expect it to be. But don't let that scare you cause its still very portable and I carry it with me everywhere!! The headphone jack, line out jack, DC adaptor in jack, and the USB jack shows that Archos put a lot of thought into making this MP3 player. The line out jack is great for when I'm home and pluge my MP3 player into my stereo, or I'm in my car and I plug into my car radio...especially on the long trips back home to Mom and Dad. I walk around with every CD I own and all my MP3's (about 1,250 of em) just in the palm of my hand. I won't trade it for anything in the world...except maybe for the Archos 20GB Jukebox!!!
Rating: Summary: Practical but not quite elegant Review: Had this for 6 months. It has some quirks, like slow recognition of the keys, and strange menus to adjust the volume. The good news is that it works as a hard drive when USB is active. You can move files with Explorer. So filling the thing up is fairly simple if you already got MP3s somewhere to transfer.The sound is OK. I use 160kbps mostly, and playing this unit through my large stereo speakers is a decent way to play music casually. I've also used a cheap monochrome Ipaq PDA, which shows you more file information, but doesn't allow subdirectories on a large card. It's OK in the car. For some reason, the sound is a little hollow, and the volume coming out of the headphone jack slightly weak. Otherwise, it's a way to carry a lot of music and play it with some control over playlists. It's been reliable. The batteries don't last very long. I think a hefty lithium battery would be better.
Rating: Summary: I guarantee a menu everytime! Review: I bought the Archos Jukebox 6000 and almost returned it after experiencing everything bad mentioned in all the adverse reviews on the product. That is, till I figured out that this is a battery operated hard drive with characteristic latencies and not a instantaneous random access device. Trouble turning it on and getting a menu? Hold the Jukebox to your ear, press the on button long enough till you hear the drive 'spin up' then release the on button. I guarantee a menu every time! If there's a delay during menu navigation, don't fret, there should be the (barely audible) characteristic clicking of the hard drive seeking to a new physical location looking for your stuff. Practice by waiting on every button push to get a feel for the device. This is not your usual instant on solid state device, it's a different animal of a mechanical device. I'm glad the store closed before I could return it. I see people at the store staring at this product. The 6 Gig capacity doesn't really sink in, and it probably won't till long after you buy it. I now walk around with my entire CD collection on hand. The USB makes it slow but it sure is handy. One device enables me to carry all my music as well as my work!
Rating: Summary: Although it seemed promising, it was not! Review: This juke box looked interesting. However, you cannot operate it without the provided musicmatch software. When you plug/inplug, it shuts off!! It is not easy to drag and drop files and especially music files without going through their whole process. The updates are not working easily, and the website faqs are not well explained. I have seen a newer version. Hopefully the above issues are resolved. But this particular one is not worth your money
Rating: Summary: Highly addictive Review: I do love my Jukebox. My co-workers say that I must be a sales rep for Archos. Within hours of my having brought it in, the techno geeks from far and wide had found an excuse to swing by and take a look at the goods. Props were definitely received for being able to use it as a data storage unit. Once you get used to the idea of backing a HUGE data file off of your c:\ at work and schlepping it home while listening to your hottest tunes you'll wonder how you ever did without it. I find myself looking at other mp3 players and thinking "how quaint -- what a sweet little music-only device". And I smugly pat my Jukebox and feel superior. One thing - it can be a finnicky piece of machinery. Don't try jogging with it or bumping it around much at all. You'll regret it!
Rating: Summary: Only a few problems separate this device from true greatness Review: This is my luxury item courtesy of the tax rebate (thanks George!) and as you can see I'm doing my best to help keep the economy propped up. My firmware version is 5.02a which, ironically, is higher than the latest driver currently available on the Archos website. Pros: 1) Ability to store/transfer files. Acts just like a 6 gig portable hard drive. Great if you have two computers. Who needs a zip drive anymore? 2) Installation was painless and connects and disconnects easily from my computer with the included USB cable. 3) Player recharges batteries with included A/C adapter. 4) My device shipped with 2 sets of NIMH batteries, nice plus. 5) Weighs about 12oz, like that can of beer you're drinking. Not rugged, but feels solid (kinda like a beer). 6) Sound quality is good, does not have problems playing "dirty" mp3 files as users have complained about other players. 7) Backlight is bright and makes reading clear in dark environments. 8) Using USB, it transfers files from computer to player at about 1MB/sec or a 100MB file in just over a minute. Plenty quick. 9) Massive storage! I just can't hang with those ridiculously inadequate 32MB, 64MB or even the 128MB players. I'm a music nut, yet I'm still having trouble filling this thing up. Minor Gripes: 1) Would've liked to have seen a car kit included. $... extra seems high for this accessory. 2) Control dial "mushy", plus you have to hit the left and right buttons to control up and down on the menu. Expect to hear a lot of "how do I do this" questions from other people when they use it. 3) Slight millisecond "gap" when switching songs. Enough to be noticed if you're playing a continuous mix. Does anyone know if the Nomad does this too? 4) Player does display entire song title, but slowly. Would be nice to be able to adjust the settings. 5) A trick in this version is to hold the on button then hit the + and - keys to adjust the volume. Otherwise it's an annoying menu process just to raise and lower the volume. 6) When you power up in dark environments, the backlight doesn't automatically come on. You have to "guess" when the machine gets to the startup menu and fiddle with the buttons before it turns on. 7) When recharging, the LCD screen constantly says "batteries charging" or "batteries charged". I wonder if this will eventually cause screen burn-in? Cons: 1) Headphones cool looking and have their own volume adjustment but they feel cheap and sound worse. An item priced this high should have included better quality. Plan on upgrading these. 2) Supposedly this player has a "resume" play capability. I can't get it to work. Player will go back to beginning of track, but not the point of the song where you last powered off. Annoying if you have a rather long mp3 - especially because it takes this player a while to fast-forward to the point you left off. 3) Because of the above problem I popped a note to tech support weeks ago. No response yet. Guess everyone else's complaints are valid. 4) Disappointed at only a 90-day warranty. Especially given the number of complaints about this player's reliability. 5) Included version of Musicmatch is junk. Reassociates all your file extensions even if you tell it not to. Then spends all the time telling you to upgrade. Certainly nothing in this program that Winamp (free) can't do. The biggest selling points of this player in my opinion are its handheld size, its ability to double as a hard drive, and its cheaper price compared to the Nomad. The negatives that keep me wondering if I should've bought a Nomad instead are this device's lack of resume capability, the slight gap when switching songs, the 90-day warranty, and the fact that the Nomad looks and operates more like a CD player - much more intuitively than this thing. Hope this review helps you in your decision.
Rating: Summary: when it was working it was fine Review: I was using the Archos and it was great. HOWEVER, one night I was listening to music and I shut it off and put it on the dresser. The next day when I picked it up the thing would not boot up. (it got stuck on the boot up stage.) I swear I did nothing to jepordize the functionality, I'm doing a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and I've handled boards worth thousands of dollars. This unit's quality is questionable. Now I just sent an email to Archos and see what they say... Three weeks no email response so I finally called them AND,Its getting shipped back to the company today. Archos said they'll repair it. Archos for fixing.
Rating: Summary: Best Investment I've ever made. Review: I've had the jukebox for six months now and to say i've been pleased would be an understatement. When i first got it, i had a few problems with the random function but once i installed the updates off of their site, everything worked perfectly. Every day, before i headed off to school, i'd plug it into my computer and make a playlist for the day. This was the only thing that allowed me to survive the boredom of a school day. Imagine, you can have the equivalent of a cd player and 100 cd's in your pocket everywhere you go. The rechargeable batteries and recharge circuit inside the unit are great. Without them, i would have spent a fourtune on batteries seeing as i've listened to the player for hundreds of hours since i got it. It's also extremely rugged for an electronics device. I've dropped it more than ten times and still no problems. This is the best investment that i've ever made. If you love music, you have to get this player.
Rating: Summary: I love this thing! Review: I can't say enough good things about this unit. It's extremely easy to use, the music quality is excellent and I've experienced no problems with the unit functioning properly. I would suggest this unit to anyone who wants a portable mp3 solution.
Rating: Summary: How about some quality control??? Review: I've had problems with the power coming on (Yes, I know to hold the button down, but it doesn't come on unless it's USB cord is plugged in). Even after properly allowing the batteries to fully charge and the like, every recharge takes hours upon hours. should i have to charge for 8 hours to get 8 hours of play? I don't think so. I have contacted customer support, but no response yet. All my problems seemed to happen after downloading a firmware upgrade. Though it may be subjective, I just dont have a good feeling about the player/company. If they fail to send an idea to fix it(it's been 3 weeks already), I'm returning it to Amazon. This was great at first, but the whole "NOT WORKING" thing kind of put a rain on my parade. Just spend a bit more and insure your happiness.
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