Rating: 
Summary: Versatile and capable with a few rough edges
Review: This is a very good value. Have used the player for 3 weeks with few problems. It operated truely plug and play as a USB disk drive on two Windows XP laptops (Dell & Sony) without installing any new drivers. It also worked with out any problems an a Apple IBook. My daughter and I use it to transfer MP3s between Apple and Windows environments. This bi-OS capability is a great feature that apparently the new Apple IPods won't support. The ability of this player to appear as a disk drive makes it very easy to manage. Sound quality is also excellent. I have been using the player on my motorcycle with no problems (I wrap it in some foam rubber and keep it in the "TourPak" on my Harley, playing it thru the bike's built-in radio). Archos has updated firmware on its website that is very easy to install in the player.The product still has some rough edges: the manual is one of the worst I have ever seen, however the company's web site has some good information. The batteries that came in the unit would operate the player for less than 1 hour. However, they were eaily replaced with some NiMh 1600 mah AA batteries from Radio Shack, that provide over 8 hours of operation. The LCD display is a bit hard to read (although younger users do not report a problem). The case design is basicly ugly, although functional and compact (the IPod wins here hands down). I haven't spent much time with the software that came with the unit (MusicMatch) although it gets good reviews (I am continuing to use the program I had previously to rip CDs). I did verify that you can easily configure it to work either with the library on the PC's hard drive or directly on the player, so that you can rip directly to the player. I would strongly recommend the player for anyone who is comfortable working directly with the MP3 files (my preference) and doesn't mind doing minor repairs (like replacing batteries and downloading firmware updates). It's high capacity, plug and play disk drive operation, and low price make it very nice.
Rating: 
Summary: WOW!!
Review: My mom looked into getting me an MP3 player for my 17th birthday and this was the one that one of her coworkers recommended to her. She looked around online and found a rebate at Best Buy plus a mail-in rebate from the company. I went with my dad to purchase it and after all the discounts and rebates we got the 20 GB player for....drumroll...[$$$]!! Not only was it a great deal, but this little gadget has come in handy many times. I use it at the gym, driving in the car (it's great for road trips), and parties (I can put my CD collection in my purse). The only bad side is that it doesn't react very well when it gets warm...so keep it out of the sun!!
Rating: 
Summary: 2 Units directly from Archos.com failed after 1 day each....
Review: I purchased a Jukebox 20 from Archos and after letting it charge for 8 hours first, I then was able to transfer about 14 gigs worth of music over without a problem. It played as expected immediately after. I left it on its charger overnight to ensure charge for the next day and voila, no bootup prompt, just a flicker of the lcd screen and nothing! I called technical support and was actually instructed by the "tech" to remove the batteries and "rearrange them" to see if the unit would power up. I then proceeded to explain the the "genius" that the unit is not experiencing a power problem.....the firmware is not booting for some reason. Overcharge and firmware lockup on its own charger? Not happy at this point. So I get an RMA #, send the unit back, and get a replacement a week later. This one actually lasted 3 hours longer than the first one and then, poof, the EXACT same failure behavior. Even if the power company had a surge on my neighborhood's grid, the charger was plugged into a surge protector for both units. The bottom line is that the unit's firmware by design cannot handle current past its batteries' point of full charge. If you leave it on the charger for too long, the device will not startup anymore. I then tried to send the second one back but then had the package refused by Archos because I wasn't issued an RMA number for the second one, and that number has to be written on the box. Eventually, I got an RMA # after talking to 4 rocket scientists (including a tech who REFUSED to give me one....I finally got one from customer service)in various departments and got my money back. The bottom line is that although the player is a great idea, Archos engineers need to consult their elementary ENME books and relearn the fundamentals of rechargable power systems. I'm a senior in Mechanical Engineering,I build computers, and know electronics pretty damn well, and to be treated like a dummy by technical support of any kind is quite irritating. Archos needs to learn how to not only design a stable product, but they also need to learn how to deal with the consumer. I bought a Neo Jukebox 20 from [another vendor] and it is excellent. Not ONE bug, and that includes use in my car EVERYDAY via rca jacks and a custom console mount I made for it. Don't buy an Archos product.
Rating: 
Summary: Flaky Flaky Flaky
Review: Okay.. I got this device in the hopes that it would merely do what its advertised to do.. which is *record*.. well.. being a DJ I wanted it to record long mixing sessions (oh.. like 3 hours worth).. Dont bother.. it will [shut down] mid recording, the display will lose its vertical hold (dont ask me how an lcd does that.. it just did). After 2 months of having it the batteries barely hold a charge, and there are many things wrong with the functionality.. like I cant turn it on while its charging.. I have to unplug the charger, turn it on, and then plug the charger back in.. grr.. Id expect a litte more than that for [$$$].
Rating:
Summary: The best portable music player EVER
Review: I bought the original Sony Walkman when it first came out (YES, I am that experienced!). Was the first one in high school to own one. From then, I have own all kinds of portable players (from solar walkmans to shock-proof discmans, mp3 players, etc) that I have used in my trips. It has been a long way to a product that fully addresses all my past problems. This is the toy I have waited for all my life!
1. 20GB is enough for an adequate selection of all my CDs. I have literally stuffed it with more than 300 CDs and still have one third of the space left. Being able to delete songs you don't really like from the very unit adds a lot to the available memory.
2. Comes with all the controls you need to enhance your listening pleasure. Sound can be tailored and the backlight always lets you know the names of the songs even in dark rooms.
3. Easy, easy interface. What can be easier than copy/paste?
4. Has more uses than just an MP3 player. I just bought a new computer. The jukebox made the transition so much easier when I backed my old computer into the unit, and then copied everything into the new one. In a breeze!
4. Long battery life (10 hours).
5. All complaints I have read here are without merit
A. A folder with more than 1000 songs indicates a user's lack of organization for which the unit is not designed.
B. A playlist of more than 500 songs is likewise absurd as sitting through several days of non-stop music is beyond anybody's physical capacity.
C. The manual is certainly horrible but the controls are so intuitive that there is really no need for the manual. The design is just that good! The only thing I could not figure out was the HOLD feature (which was not in the manual but was in the website's FAQ).
All in all AN EXCELENT PURCHASE.
Rating: 
Summary: Details You Want to Know !
Review: Other reviews posted here mention such features as the size, capacity, and flexibility, as well as such oversights as the flimsy build and the faulty playback; a few reviews mention the restricted playlist length and nonstandard USB cable, neither of which bother me. This review is intended to supplement others available online; it does not exhaustively address all aspects of the Archos Jukebox but only those which other reviewers ignore, and is offered in thanks to the other reviewers and as a service to prospective buyers who hope for more detailed information than offered by the manufacturer. NOTE: While it is not the purpose of this review to persuade or deter purchase of the unit, be sure to read the final paragraph of my report. In response to the previous claims: the unit does offer compact size, capacious storage, and flexible use; it is also less than robust-though not shabby-and playback using the internal MP3 player does encounter such errors as skipping and locking up, though not consistently enough to troubleshoot.* On the other hand, the USB functionality seems flawless, allowing troublefree use as a battery operated hard drive with hot-swap functionality and reasonable speed. The documentation I received was unsatisfactory, but not as bad as other reviewers say,** and indeed, with a little experimentation, the features of the unit reveal themselves, since most of them follow the conventions established for portable gadgets with multi-function buttons. Batteries & Power The unit I bought received from Amazon in early July did not include extra batteries, and those installed in the unit could not hold a charge; the jukebox, then, could not operate without the AC adapter for more than five minutes. To my relief, replacements are available at the mall and work perfectly. Contrary to the other reviewers, I completed the replacement within minutes, with only a jeweler's screwdriver, and any without damage to the unit; as a test, I also opened the battery compartment without any tools. The procedure is, in fact, simple: press either cylindrical cover down in the middle and especially under the two crescent-shaped protrusions, under which the plastic clasps reside; once the clasps are a few millimeters clear of the unit, slide the cover up and off of the unit. Until the power problem was resolved, I figured I had just fallen victim to bad design and had bought only a nice portable hard drive, albeit one that required cables, an adaptor, and seemingly superstitious handling to function. Once the batteries were replaced, the unit became what I intended: a battery operated USB hard drive with, as a bonus, an MP3 player and recorder. (For a serious compact hard drive, buy the USB/firewire La Cie Pocket Drive; for an MP3 player with no moving parts, buy a Rio 500-if you can still find one-and download Tom's RioFXP.) Recording The recorder is better than I expected. To begin, the headphone jack operates during recording to allow for sound monitoring; recording level can be adjusted using a stereo 16-segment meter; and file naming is less cumbersome than expected. While the built-in microphone is adequate for using the unit as a dictaphone, it will pick up both ambient noise and the thrashing of the hard drive; still, the recordings, unlike those of other digital voice recorders, do not need to be converted to be archived or shared with others, so I may begin to use the unit in meetings and on car drives. Another reviewer suggested using an external microphone, but the unit does not have a mic-in jack, and not even a powered condenser microphone can achieve the level necessary for adequate recording. The line-in jack for recording is, of course, much quieter, producing very decent recordings, and indeed, I anticipate using the unit for capturing streaming audio and simply converting MIDI files to MP3s using my laptop soundcard. Miscellaneous The display features an 18 × 8 character LCD screen displaying a 3-segment battery gauge and other information. Firmware updates are not flash upgrades but, rather, files resident in the root directory and read during boot-up, a process which can take about 15 seconds. The carrying case is made of wetsuit material and features a little pocket suitable for holding the USB cable.
When I received the unit, ScanDisc reported errors and corrected them, but running a "thorough" scan of the "data area" of the disc consistently crashes ScanDisc-even when the Jukebox is set to never power off automatically ... Now I have the choice of dealing with the reportedly terrible Technical Service and wait hours for an RMA, or simply ignoring the 32 k of "bad sectors" that ScanDisc can find in the "system area" of the drive. * Some of these errors were corrected by simply replacing the MP3 file with another copy, as if the file had been corrupted during transfer to the drive, despite the fact that the file size was the same. Other errors may have been caused due to an MP3 file not having an ID3 tag, but I have yet to confirm this.
** The unit included a PDF version of the manual; this was dated November, 2001, and any complaints might be directed to "Daniel," who converted the document from Word.
Rating:
Summary: An indispensable product!
Review: My Jukebox Recorder 20 is a wonderful product! I received it as a birthday gift, and it's become indispensable after just one day. Here's a list of pros, in no particular order:
1) Works equally well with Windows 2000 (work) and Mac OSX (home).
*Note: this used to be the case, but now it only works with Windows and OS 9...not X. Don't know what happened, but Archos' tech support was not the slightest bit helpful.
2) The sound quality is great, and changing the sound settings adds a lot to the unit.
3) The drag-and-drop method is simple for anyone to use, which means...
4) Updating the firmware is a breeze.
5) Ability to record directly to the unit is a huge plus.
6) The buttons do exactly what you think they will do.
7) The storage capability: 20 gigs of music/files is great!
8) Definitely small enough to carry in a purse; I'll take mine everywhere.
9) The bundled MusicMatch software isn't a necessity for folks who'd rather use another program to create MP3s, but it is a very nice program. The only reason I don't give the product 5 stars is because of little things:
1) The interface is not as elegant as the interface I've seen on the Apple iPod.
2) The manual is inadequate. However, the Archos website has a lot of helpful support information.
3) The headphones are not great quality, but they fold up pretty compactly (which is convenient) and you can always purchase your choice of headphones separately. Overall, I would recommend this product to any music fan or anyone who needs to swap files from one computer to another.
Rating:
Summary: The newer jukeboxes do NOT suffer from problems I have read.
Review: If you are concerned with the reviews that refer to problems (such as bad firmware, bad battery connection, etc), do not worry. I have received the item from harmony computers...and have had no problems. Installation was a bit too easy. No challenge. First truly plug and play device I have had. I had to install drivers for win98, but winxP recognized the drive immediately. I prefer not to use musicmatch. I drag-and-drop mp3s to the logical windows drive. Also, you can drag and drop a firmware upgrade. It came with 1.26 installed, but I upgraded to 1.27d...P>Controls are most logical I have ever seen. The buttons do exactly what you expect them to do. To navigate through the folders, you use the up, down, left and right. Left and right go in and out of folders. When playing up and down control volume while left and right go next and previous song. The three buttons under the screen work very efficiently, and the built in clock is a nice touch (even though the clock is not displayed while the song is playing). The screen is small, but very sharp and visible in most lighting conditions. Transfer rates are decent with my old usb connection. Battery life is acceptable. Highly customizable sounds (treble, bass, bass boost, loudness, etc controls). Complaints include minor details. It is bulky and ugly. It is the BEST player. It is relatively small. It takes about 10 seconds to "boot up." Can't control the unit while it is in the case. When I listen to it through my car kit, it does have "click" sounds once in a while. If this is your main reason for buying, reconsider. The package included a blue neoprene case. Mine did not include the extra 4 nimH batteries. [Bad] headphones. RCA cable. USB 2.0 cable. Useless manual. CD (drivers and musicmatch). Finally, I should mention I am using sony mdr-ex70lp earbuds. I get excellent bass without distortion and good balance. But then again, I did invest $[money] for just headphones. Excellent sound if you can shell out the extra money...
Rating:
Summary: Two Bad Hard Drives in 3 Months!
Review: The build quality of this product seems to be amiss. The first Jukebox arrived with a bad hard drive. It was returned and the hard drive in the second Jukebox went bad 90 days later, with very little play and zero abuse, i.e. it never left the house, was never dropped, etc. Also, don't expect much in the way of volume, it is just not there. Based on 2 bad hard drives in 3 months, there is no way I can recommend to anyone they purchase this product.
Rating:
Summary: User Interface (is bad)
Review: have no problem with the MusicMatch Jukebox, or the drag and drop right to the Jukebox. Can't stand the way you navigate on the unit..it's going back tomorrow. Might be some trick to it, but the documentation is non-existent.
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