Rating: 
Summary: The Little Jukebox that Could
Review: Pros
+ 20 GB
+ Simple File transfer
+ Size of a cassette tape
+ Holds 200+ albums
+ Can also be used as a portable, swappable, or spare driveCons
- Non-intuitive User interface
- Weak Playlist feature
- Heavy (not good for running)
- Throw away the headphones and get yourself some Sony earbuds 20 GB...it makes those 128 MB players seem like they're from the 90's. 1/150th of the amount of space. Definitely the best feature is the ease of connectivity to any NT based system (Windows 2000/NT/XP). Most computers that I have connected to do not require any drivers to be installed. Plus, the Jukebox shows up within Explorer just like a hard drive icon would. Copying music to and from the Recorder is as easy as dragging songs, albums, or playlists into it. When I bought this I thought that I could fit my entire CD collection onto it. Well maybe not (since I have a ton of CDs and downloaded MP3s), but it sure holds enough to constantly have fresh music. I record typically at a 128kbps rate, and I have about 200 albums on my recorder. The user interface is my only complaint. Sonic and other companies have done a much better job at having an intuitive interface. Archos, unfortunately, saved space by limiting the number of buttons. For instance, the Stop button is the Off button tapped once (hold it to turn off). These little things take a while to figure out, but once you do, it's gold. One last dealmaker is that unlike most MP3 players, Archos can handle ANY file types. Therefore, I store Word Docs, email files, pictures, videos etc. in my Jukebox and bring them between work and home. It's better than a zip drive and holds 20,000 diskettes. Sure you can't play the pictures on the Recorder (there's another model for that), but being able to bring them all to your friends place rocks. For the price, buy it! (Keep your eyes out for the 40GB or photo/camera version though).
Rating: 
Summary: Get almost what you pay for
Review: ...The device has works perfectly when I connect it through the USB2 PCI card I bought for it, and I have almost 1GB of personal data files stored. That feature was one of the factors in buying it. I like the over all quality of the product, but it lacks some essentials, and other features are buggy. PLUS:
* Good sound and power conservation control.
* Sturdy design, so far no damage after three short-distance drops.
* Easy interface with Windows - I've hardly had to use the "Safely Disconnect" dialog, just plugging and unplugging at will.
* Decent sound quality and controls, though it could use a noise filter for known MP3 sound degradation (does this exist on other players?)
* Reasonable price
* Records on-the-fly to MP3 via built-in mic or line-in. Nice feature, though I haven't used it much. MINUS
* Manual misses some key points of device operation. Five languages, mediocre coverage.
* Some display/navigation glitches.
* High storage load can cause slow-down in load-up and button response. Also causes inconsistent freezes and sound errors. Defrag may potentially help this problem.
* Housing back seems kinda thin, making me nervous that the whole drive could break out if dropped hard enough.
* No further firmware development (as told to me by Archos support).
* Only supports MP3 - no WMA or OGG, and MP3Pro is compatible, but sounds nasty and causes even more errors.
* Not very useful for Linux users. Can read from the device, but writing is dangerous and could lock up Linux. Of course, this is true of most players.
* File naming for on-the-fly recording is really difficult and cumbersome.
* Could use more display area. As large as the device is, the screen could be bigger. Hard to sift through the hundreds of albums I've stored (even in a folder hierarchy) when I can only see five at a time. ...mentioned a car adapter. Which is fine if you have a tape deck, but if you have a CD player and need to use an FM transmitter to play through the car stereo, you're out of luck. This device isn't compatible with the ones I've found. This drive does the job for me, and until I can afford something higher-end, it'll serve my purposes. But if you can afford it, pay the higher price for a better player. I'll be looking to sell mine once I can put together money for something else.
Rating: 
Summary: Big bad surprise
Review: 1. 20 GB is not 20 000 000 bits, so forget you can store 20 000 000 bits of music on your 20 GB device. I do not remember exactly but it is like 19,4 milion bits. That was a first surprise :-( 2. Second one was a recorder. I could not record using any external source, just through inbuilt mic (but forget using this one- you hear rather noise of hardisk than the sound you wanted to record). == I wrote to Archeos - email - long and polite - I included my date of purchase etc. - NO ANSWER from customer service departement!!!!!!!! (after 4 months still waiting it ...)
I am not from USA, I bought it there but I live in the Europe now. Any phone calls and snail mail is very expensive for me.
I threw my money for Jukebox -that is basicly good thing- but couple important details make Archeos Jukebox recorder 20 GB very expensive china garbage.
Think twice before you buy it. Good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Overall Superior Performance
Review: The Archos Jukeboxes have a unique combination of features and quality which leaves the competition behind. Pros:
1 Extremely durable steel casing
2 Standard AA sized batteries, which are easily accessable
3 REAL 10 hour play life before recharging
4 Excellent sound: bass, vocals, and treble
5 Works with Mac OS 8-9 and OSX, as well as Windows
6 Many installations can use the generic USB storage driver built into the OS
7 Only unit currently utilizing USB 2.0 for maximum transfer rates EXCEEDING FireWire
8 Easy to learn menu system
9 Doubles as a standard USB hard drive - for Windows or Macs
10 SPID digital in/out (use it with your digital amp or Sound-Blaster card), line-in, and earphone jacks, and a built-in microphone
11 No Copy Protection schemes - freely copy your music and data files
12 Supports Variable Bit Rate as well as the other common encoding standards
13 Uses standard 2.5" drive - easy later expansion (currently 60+ Gb), MUCH less expensive than Ipod 1.8" drives (current max 20 Gb)
14 Fairly small form factor - not as small as an Ipod, but you can change the batteries and hard drive easily: a trade-off I can live with.
15 Encodes to MP3 as it records!
16 1 YEAR warranty vs. 90 days for most competitors. Cons: 1 User's guide totally inadequate
2 Supplied headphones are awful - but most are. Smaller and lighter Panasonic RP-HS15 ... or HS35 are MUCH better - even better than Sony's offerings.
3 Larger and heavier than Ipod
4 Recording and playlists severely under-documented, need to check user forums
5 From others' comments, Archos tech support seems to be minimal
6 Plays only MP3 format, but firmware is upgradable Having owned or borrowed MP3 players ranging from Audiovox, Neo (SSI), Nomad, and Rio, the Archos 20Gb Jukebox/Recorder is a great performer which provides excellent value.
Rating: 
Summary: Good
Review: I found this to be handy. Its a bit bigger than I hoped but it does store 20 GB. That's a lot of data!
Rating:
Summary: Very useful item
Review: I bought Archos recorder 20 with the primary intent of having a nice big HDD in a small, fast device. The MP3 side was a secondary feature (though I listen to the thing all day at work.) As a portable drive I could put in my pocket, it has saved me hours of headaches as I have to transfer hundreds of megabytes on an almost daily basis. It's very easy to use, easy to navigate and very fast. So-far it has proven to be very reliable too. The USB2 port is well worth any extra outlay for a USB2 card as the speed increase over 1.1 is amazing. I bought 2 USB2 cards, one for each (remote) machines I use so I could transfer files quickly using Windows Explorer drag and drop. Because USB2 is so much faster, your batteries last longer as the Archos sucks juice much quicker when acting as a standard USB HDD. File transfers are so quick with USB2 that it only needs to be connected for a couple of minutes. As an MP3 player, I'm generally very happy with it. The supplied headphones are abysmal and need replacing immediately. The sound quality (when using better headphones) is very good overall. Menu navigation is easy so finding the song(s) you want to hear is a painless operation. One thing I don't like is trying to skip backwards through a song, it gets it's pants in a twist and ends up sounding like a stuck record. Going forward is fine though. There are also plenty of controls to adjust if you like tweaking, or you can just leave it as it comes. I notice little difference in sound quality between the Archos and my SB Audigy MP3 card played through my Sennheise HD580 headphones. It has copious output power and can drive even big cans very loud and clean. I don't use playlists as I setup all my files manually in Explorer so can't say whether they work well or not. Besides, I don't really like using the supplied MusicMatch Jukebox software. I don't record mp3's straight to the Archos either so cannot comment on that function. The build quality isn't the greatest though it's perfectly functional. The casing just doesn't have that feeling of precision. I would imagine that the I-pod or whatever it's called feels much nicer... though slower and a much smaller drive for the cash. Battery life is good given the drive size and power output. Supplying two sets of batteries is a nice touch though, as is being able to using it while it's charging with the batteries in place. The USB cord is a pain as Archos opted to use an 'A-A' cord rather than the more standard 'A-B' connectors. This means that if you want a second cord, or a longer one, you'll have trouble finding one. Archos do sell cords but they are short and expensive. I still haven't tracked down anywhere that sells a 6" long A-A cord, just A-A extensions which are useless on the Archos. In the end I wanted a big drive, good speed, good functionality and portability, the Archos Recorder 20 fitted the bill nicely. I have no regrets buying it or hesitation reccomending it as long as people are aware of the above points. I'm very happy with mine and if I had to choose over again, I think I'd still buy the recorder 20.
Rating:
Summary: Yeah, it's good
Review: it's very nice. Get it if you can since 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
Rating:
Summary: Love it, love it, love it
Review: I've had mine for quite a while now and I absolutely love it. I've put most of my CD collection on there. I record lectures on it. It's just great.
Rating:
Summary: Works great for recording music lessons
Review: I bought the Archos Jukebox 20 Recorder to record my violin lessons. I previously was using audio tape. With audio tape, I would record my lesson, but not be able to find certain music at a later date. With the Archos, I record my lessons and immediately can label the music with title and date. This way, I can easily go back and find the music I want. I also use my Archos to record our choir music and practices. I then can e-mail various music to fellow cantors, or even make a CD of the music. We are all benefiting from this technology.
The extra recommendation I would make it to buy the Archos ($50) or similar amplified microphone. The internal mic works in a pinch, but you hear the harddrive spinning up and down which is annoying. The Archos jukebox with an amplified microphone has great fidelity on the playback. I save some of my CD music on the Archos and play it back in my car. I also use the Archos to backup my desktop computer's harddrive and save it later onto another computer. It works seamlessly on all computers (with the USB port). I highly recommend the Archos Jukebox 20 if you want to do similar activities and I described above.
Rating: 
Summary: I hate it
Review: I hate my Archos player. I'm so very sorry I got this instead of spending the extra cash on an Apple iPod. Now I'm stuck with it. I'm a completely tech savvy person and I can't seem to use this stupid MP3 player. There is no such thing as tech support with Archos either. Plus the user guide is virtually non-existant. RUN FAR AWAY FROM THIS and spring for the iPod.
| 
