Rating: 
Summary: Owned for 6 weeks and still loving it.
Review: The device has had a couple of bugs in the firmware, but Archos has been working on it. They've had two releases of the firmware since I ordered mine. Makes me feel confident that they are working to make the product better.The headphones they provide are crap, but with an average quality pair, it sounds great. I've been able to get 8+ hours of life consistently out of mine. I have over 1000 MP3s and haven't filled 1.5 gig yet. Having your entire collection in the palm of your hand is awesome. I'd buy this device again over the Nomad.
Rating: 
Summary: I liked it. It's Impressive
Review: With it's great storage capacity, this item is really worth it's price tag. I found it very easy to install and easy to upload music. You can upload a CD in just about 9 minutes. You can also use it as a portable Hard Drive. You should sort the mp3's in folders according to your preferences or else the file navigation is nearly impossible. The bundled software is regular and not the last version available (MusicMatch 5.0) And you have to create the playlists with it and the spend time Manually finding them in your HD to drag the playlist files to your jukebox. This could be improved. The shuffle function is very badly implemented, I hope that they correct the functionality on the next firmware upgrade. Archo's support website is not very user-friendly either. The sound quality is nice, and it's loud enough for me. I particularly like the line out jack, it's great for car use. The battery life is 5 hours of playback. I have never experienced an iterruption because of it's great anti-shock system. It's a great jukebox, though not perfect after all.
Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful player!
Review: This is a wonderful mp3 player! It has some minor flaws, however. GOOD THINGS- 1) Capacity. Oh come on--- is six GIGABYTES enough for you? 2) Style- It looks cool. 3) Price, it crushes any 64mb player anyday!!! 4)Fast USB file transfer- I transfered 500 mp3's in half a minute 5)Durability- I've dropped it on a rock-hard surface (by accident) two times already but thanks to the cool blue bumpers, it survived without a scratch! 6)Battery Life- I left it on and timed it- from a full overnight charge, I pumped out 7 hours of music. 8)Good Menu options 9)Easy computerized organization- Manage your files easily as if it was a drive on your computer (when connected with the USB) 10) You can easily transfer any file from any computer when its connected to the USB and previously installed SO-SO THINGS 1) Navigation. Through menus and files- It was difficult the first day or two but i easily got used to it. Not a problem. BAD (but tolerable) THINGS 1) Headphones. But thats not a problem, just get some cheap ones. There headphones bother my ears. 2)Weight and Size- Its actually fine in terms of size, its mostly portable everywhere but weight, um, its a little heavy but for such a high-octane device, i dont know how it could possibly be any lighter 3)Not-so-great sound quality, but im sure future downloadable firmware will improve it. Other than those, this is a great player! I am enjoying it very much!
Rating:
Summary: Ooo so close
Review: Got hold of one today. It took a month or so to arrive, so it must be fairly popular. Installation was a breeze under Windows 2000. Firmware update just as simple. I'm reasonably impressed by the sound quality - not amazing through head phones but great plugged through my pc. I've got quite a stash of MP3s and copied over a couple of GB across over lunch - it had finished by the time I got back. One thing I did notice is that leaving it recharging whilst copying a large amount of files across the unit gets pretty hot. A couple of issues - playlists of 300+ are a complete no no, and from the sounds of things there can be issues with much smaller ones too. Playlists are a good idea though. However, would appreciate it more if it stored the last position in list when powering off. And I'd like to be able to shuffle the *playlist* rather than the directory scan. Also, the buttons aren't very intuitive - pressing left and right to scroll up and down a menu doesn't seem right to me. As others have said, it'd be nice to have a physical volume control too. All that said, its got excellent transfer rates, is a great portable storage device for all types of files and has great potential. Another firmware updates to sort out the playlists and it'll be almost perfect.
Rating: 
Summary: An ok player for the price
Review: The first thing I thought when I opened the box was "wow, this is tiny." The sound quality is good but the controls are awful. Changing the volume requires several button presses. Shuffle play is very flaky--I had one song play 3 times in a row. I've also had the player "lock up" and require a power reset to get it playing again. The product is also marketed as a USB Hard Disk--something for which I have no need. However, it does provide me with an inexpensive storage solution for all of my ripped CDs which can be moved between my computers with ease. Given short battery life, flakey playback, and difficult to use controls. I'm not sure where this product is most appropriate. It's cute though so I continue to play around with it, but I certainly could live without it.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost there, not quite right yet!
Review: This is a great concept and an almost-great product. Once the bugs are fixed this little gem will be the ideal companion for a long plane ride, or the beach. The memory is a massive 6 gigabytes that allows for more than 1500 of MP3s. The unit is smaller than the Nomad and only about the size of a cassette Walkman. It is easy to use and requires absolutely no installation (just the firmware upgrade). Your computer recognizes the unit as a drive (it adds a letter drive) and all you have to do is drag and drop the Mp3s in it. That's it. Transfer time is very fast (about 4 seconds per song on average). The battery life was about 9 hours per charge which I think is very good. The rechargeble batteries are not that easy to access, but hopefully you won't need to replace them for a while. Now the downsides. The following will need to be fixed before the unit can be a success. Consider these before you buy the Archos. 1. Sound - Even with the upgrade, compared to my Rio 500 the sound is very weak. The equalizer (bass and tremble) is not adequate and even at the maximum volume the unit lacks power. I played the same exact MP3 first on my Rio 500 and then on the Archos and the difference is tremendous (the Rio being far superior). 2. The shuffle mode does not work if you have more than 25-30 songs in a folder. In fact, I wouldn't recommend putting more than 30 songs in any folder, otherwise you will run into problems. Unfortunately, if you power off the unit, once you turn the power back on it goes back to the first folder in the unit and at the first song of that folder. So unless you want to hear the same songs over and over (which defeats the purpose of having a 6 gig MP3 player), you have to scroll through the folders and song titles for a while. It is not a complicate process, but after a couple of times it gets annoying and tedious. 3. There is no easy access to volume control. To change the volume setting you have to take the unit out of its case so you can see the display and fiddle with the main control until the Volume setting is displayed, select that and then increase/decrease volume. How about an easy access button on the side, like the Rio? 4. The display itself is not very clear (it pales when compared to that of the Rio 500) and accessing it to view the options or the folders and the songs takes several steps at a time. 5. Once you have completed downloading songs to the Archos, there is no way to disconnect it from your desktop without your computer crashing. You have to turn you computer off if you wan to avoid a crash. If you can live with the aforementioned problems, then get this unit. It is a nice gadget to have for long plane trips, long commutes, or a day at the beach. The Rio 500 is still my player of choice for the gym and for jogging, mainly because of its size, but 128K does not compare with 6 gigs.
Rating:
Summary: Totally Pleased....
Review: I have had this thing for about three weeks and it's definitely the best purchase I've made in years. Sound quality with firmware update (first thing I did so I can't compare it to the original firmware) is fine. I played the same mp3 through the same amp/speakers on the Jukebox and on my Computer (SBLive) and couldn't tell the difference. I've been taking it back and forth to work everyday, listening to it in the car and the office. Not a single problem. Since it shows up a just another drive, it's also replaced my Jazz drive for transferring data between computers. (The main reason why I didn't get the Creative Jukebox....) And the batteries really do last 8 hours. No more burning CDs for me.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful product
Review: This has been one of the best purchases I have ever made. After upgrading the product with a new firmware form the archos site (www.archos.com) all the previous problems have been resolved. The sound is wonderful and it really is pocketsize. I couldn't recommend this product enough. Moreover, it starts up instantly and you can be listening to music within 10 seconds. The nomad jukebox takes up to _2_ minutes to boot up. Forget some music for a quick drive. I love it.
Rating:
Summary: Great device...but a few glitches from Archos
Review: I'm a techno-klutz and I got this thing working well in about a day...but without any help, at all, from Archos or its manual. PROS: size and technical features are great.(I looked at a Nomad--this is significantly smaller and more portable). It works extremely well through my e-machine. Once I figured out how to do it (with no help from Archos) I found it easy to transfer CDs (through MusicMatch) to the Jukebox drive. I now have the transfer process down to about 12-15 minutes per disc.[you just record the disc/selected tracks through MusicMatch's recorder. Label the artist and album on the recorder itself. Go to MyDocs/MyMusic folder on your C drive and simply click and drag (or copy) the recorded files to the "F" drive, corresponding to the jukebox. You can then reorganize the files directly on the F drive. Neat!) I've now got the music files organized by artist/composer, and they're easy to find on the device. I found the sound--despite what other reviewers have said--to be excellent...at least as good as a decent discman. I did substitute good, small headphones with an in-line volume control, since access to the volume on the machine itself is difficult. Sound is terrific when played through a Soundworks 88--and is quite good when played only through small, amplified speakers. CONS: Archos' instruction manual is almost worthless. It is hard to read, confusing, doesn't define terms etc. etc. Graphics are non-existent. Instructions for the MusicMatch software are not much better. Archos webpage is worthless. No instructions at all about the device. No FAQs of any value. No instructions. Nothing! Archos technical support "hotline" is absurd--I called many, many times the first day, and each time the call was sent directly to a voicemail box. Not once--with four messages--did anyone call back. When I finally reached someone--after several hours of trying--they were of virtually no help...didn't know the machine, couldn't communicate well in English, didn't get back to me when I called with followup. If you need help on this, don't look to Archos. Although I love the machine--and particularly the idea of having 100 to 150 of my favorite discs accessible anywhere--I think Archos should think twice about marketing this on a big scale until they can get product support. I'm serious--they've got the worst customer support/product support operation I've ever encountered! That being said, if you're not particularly computer proficient--like me--but are patient and motivated, you will be rewarded!
Rating:
Summary: Great Little Toy
Review: Positives Great size and sound. The USB works great and I had no problems loading about 4GB of music on it. Negatives The headphones broke in half after 3 days. Firmware got toasted and I have to send it back for exchange. (hopefully the new one will have the new firmware) All in all I am glad I bought it. Even with having to send this one back. It is still a great little sound machine.
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