Rating: 
Summary: Having a blast with this thing.
Review: While drooling over Apple's iPod, I'm glad I saw alternatives. The Archos unit has the incredibly useful ability to record. This feature is huge! Newer units have a 20 GB disc and USB 2.0 which only makes things better. Consider this. Remember all those times you needed to record something? Tape recorder, right? 120 minutes at best. Special long-play units degrade quality. Remember scrambling to flip the tape? 10 GB means 10,000 minutes at standard MP3 settings. Use an external plug-in mic for a cleaner recording. Can we say college lectures? Piano recitals? You name it. No software needed to have an MP3 version. The J'box does it for you. Just hook it up to the computer and drag it over. Burn a CD, save on the 'puter. Whatever. If you don't like MusicMatch, sheeeesh, use something else. I do. Don't have a computer? Plug into your CD player and record/encode that way. Record radio too! Got a concert DVD? You can record that too! I kinda wish mine had an FM tuner (Archos makes one with that too), it'd be a nice addition, but after a couple of those stupid commercials I don't miss it so much. One glaring feature that isn't present in the firmware is sleep mode. It can be a minor hassle starting up all the time. Adjusting the "stay on" time helps, but also eats power. The headphones aren't the best, but not that bad either, especially out in the world where they can get smooshed. I get along fine with USB 1.1 since I'm not swapping 1000 tunes every 3 days. Just drop the files, go do something else, come back in a few min. and it's done. The manual? So-so. Remember to charge the unit for several hours the first time before first use, and any time you replace the batteries. Frustrating, but necessary. I also use a cassette adapter in the car. It still amazes me that all my stuff is in that little box. No backseat-full of tape and CD cases, and the big black music briefcase...anybody remember slamming on brakes with a carload of tapes? INCOMING!!! Speaking of tapes. If you have a lifetime of taped stuff, you can plug in and record onto the J'box and have a digital copy of all that stuff. Burn it all onto a CD or two and finally ditch those boxes of old tapes (which are degrading as you read this). Like I said, I'm havin' a blast with this thing!
Rating:
Summary: Great player, with enough quirks to give it personality
Review: I am very glad that I received this mp3 player. There are alot of features that you just can't find on other players. For example the 10GB of space is huge. I explain it to my non-computer friends like this: it's almost a week worth of music. Besides that, it's got a mic and a line-in recording option. For me these are great, as I can record sermons at church straight from the sound board. Also, it can be used as a external hard drive, an option that I haven't taken advantage of yet, but plan to.
Now this thing has got a few problems that I hope are fixed in later versions of the OS (by the way it has upgradeable firmware, a plus.) One, that merely takes getting used to, is that the player won't turn on if the DC adapter, or USB is already plugged in. There are a few others, and I must admit that I've had trouble walking with it in my pant pocket. I think the jostling disrupts the hard drive after a while. (Luckily it comes with a belt clip.) And I still haven't figured out the playlist feature.
But overall, this is a great product. I take mine all over the place and keep it on shuffle and with that much music I tend not to hear the same songs too much. Of course I've only about half filled it. The backlighting and the eight lines of text on the screen do well to find songs and navigate through the options. I do enjoy the volume control on both the player and the included headphones.
If you have need to record things from a line in source, I strongly recommend this product.
Rating: 
Summary: Worthless
Review: I recently bought an Archos off of Amazon.com and recieved it in its alotted shipping time. I was very excited at my new purchase from good reviews and amazing specs, especially for the price! unfortunately, I took the system out of the box and charged it overnight, just as the instructions had said. I took it out the next morning, hoping to put on new music and enjoy my purchase before a n upcoming vacation, but instead, the music turned on for about 30 sec. and shut off. I tried this several times until I relaized that it would no longer turn on at all. I tried to re-read the instrutions and even check the archos website but nothing helped. Eventually, I realized that my batteries would not hold a charge (certainly not rechargable) and even for the time (30 sec.) I did listen to the music, I was disappointed by poor quality. I sent back the product to amazon.com to get a new one and try my luck again. After a prolonged period (and a vacation with no MP3 player) I contacted amazon.com to find that I would not get a new one, but only a refund. I was at first a bit upset, but then realized that after all, wouldn't a refund be better than the hastle of dealing with such a worthless machine again and disappointing myself for the second time?
I still have not found another system with the same specs and storage ability for such a price, but I figure that if I must pay an extra $50-100 for an Mp3 player that works and has better sound, then so be it. I hope we have all learned something; this archos system has sourl disappointed me and I hope you will not make the same mistake as I have.
Rating: 
Summary: So Far So Good...........
Review: After getting so fed up with the Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox awkward shape and the stupidly short battery life I returned it and bought this silver and blue baby.The manual is full of spelling mistakes and errors, but its not THAT bad once you sit down and read it. Being able just to drag and drop files using Windows Explorer is a breath of fresh air compared to the Nomad's buggy Playcenter program. The Archos is full of neat features such as on-the-fly MP3 encoding (analogue or digital). It won't randomly shuffle files in different folders but I overcome that by making a new playlist daily to fit my mood. (naming it Today's Playlist). The MusicMatch program [stinks] but I use Winamp to make my playlists and its much easier than MusicMatch. Archos seemed to have listened to people complaining about the early 6000's bad interface and bugs. Operation using the cursor keypad and the 3 F buttons is a breeze and the UP and DOWN cursor controls volume during playback. So Far So Good its been reliable, soundquality is great and overall im happy. Ill keep you updated. Watch This Space..........
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE MY ARCHOS!
Review: I got this ... after ditching the Nomad Jukebox for its dire battery life and buggy MP3 software. and its a dream come true! Let me tell you why. 1) DRAG AND DROP files from the Windows Explorer! It shows up as an extra Hard Drive in My Computer! No need for slow awkward transfer software! 2) USE IT TO CARRY YOUR OTHER FILES AROUND! Because of the drag and drop system store any files of your choice, such as pictures or software files, applications. I have a folder on it solely for other files, kept away from the MP3s. 3) A DRASTICALLY IMPROVED MANUAL!. Ive read the manual to the original Jukebox and yes it was bad. After sitting down and reading this new manual, it was a huge improvement, step by step flow charts and every feature explaned. The grammar and spelling still has room for improvement, but overall a huge step up. Plus the website has further hints and tips. 4)EXCELLENT SOUND QUALITY!. The supplied headphones are perfectly acceptable, but for even better sound try some of Sony's range. You get loads of enhancements such as Bass Boost, Loudness, Bass, Treble and Balance. 5)RECORD DIRECTLY TO MP3. Use the built in mic or analogue or digital inputs. You even get a free Y-cable thrown in for analogue recording via the Line-in. Nice! And the sound is great as well. you can change the quality from 1 (low) to 7 (CD sound)Plus you can change the sampling rate from 16Khz to 48Khz, and alter the recording level as record. Monitor the clear level meters to avoid clipping or distortion :-) 6)PLAYLISTS! You can create a playlist on-the-fly, or you can use the supplied Musicmatch software for playlist building. I don't like Musicmatch so I use Winamp to make my playlists and I use Freerip to rip my MP3s. RIP DIRECTLY ONTO THE ARCHOS WITH FREERIP! 7) BUILD QUALITY! The body design is silver metal with blue rubber corners for shock protection. The buttons have a nice positive click when depressed. Overall the unit feels very study and that gives me the confidence to take it out and about without fear of malfunction. You can change the batteries without a screwdriver if you are very careful, thereby preserving the Archo's sexy looks. 8)The Jukebox cannot randomly shuffle across multiple folders. WRONG! Just make up a large playlist up to 1000 songs from any directory of your choice, hit Shuffle mode and away you go! 1000 songs is almost more than 2 days of continous music! Also you can randomly shuffle across ALL directories if you are using Windows XP and Windows Media Player! When your PC is powered up, switch the Jukebox on, plug the USB cable in, click on Play Files With Windows Media Player, click on Shuffle in Windows Media Player and away you go! (The USB cable is the only lead required). 9) Finally BATTERY LIFE! 10 hours on a full charge. Why have an MP3 player with hundreds of songs if the batterys only last 4 hours (take note Creative Labs!) So there you have it. Im so happy with my Archos im never away from it. Wherever I go, my Archos follows. I LOVE MY ARCHOS!
Rating:
Summary: Buyer beware!
Review: - Screen went dead long ago.
- Locks up 2-3 times per use. For some reason, it ust dies
A friend who has one had the same problems with hers. She went out and got an ipod.
Rating:
Summary: not user friendly
Review: fragile
poor manual
hard to create playlist
locks up often.
Rating:
Summary: Problems with Mac OS 10.2
Review: This little machine is great. When I got it in the mail, it was much smaller than I thought it be. Now that I have it working with my computer, it works great. The battery life is much longer than my other mp3 player and it takes very little time to get started up. As a recorder it works great. I record all my music lessons with it. ...
Rating:
Summary: My Archos and I.......
Review: I have been thinking about MP3 players for a long time. At first i thought i would buy the MPIO DMG PLUS, then the Archos came up. Immediately i saw that I must have that. I have had it for 3 days now, and nothing has gone wrong. The software is easy to install, you can carry your WHOLE CD collection in your pocket. Now the downside.... A) It takes 10 hours to charge the batteries, B) You can't tell when you have transferred a song to it, C) it weighs alot, D) it takes a long time to turn it on, and E) the headphones supplied aren't good. Anyway I love my Archos, and where I go, my Archos comes with me.
Rating:
Summary: Rad Man Completly Rad!
Review: If you are tired of losing cds you have come to the right place.This thing is awsome.It has all my favorite music on here;Kiss Michael Jackson Smashing Pumpkins The Simpsons and Aerosmith.This thing is not cheap,but not expencive.It dosen't even skip so when I am in the car,perfect sound.Even the songs aren't in order,there is a solution.Put numbers like 01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,etc.etc.etc.etc.I am 10 years old and I still figured out how to work this thing.For Christmas,I wanted an Ipod but I got a YEPP.Then I ordered this and it rocks the house.
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