Rating: 
Summary: Excellent MP3 Player
Review: I purchased the Archos MP3 player because 1. It costs about half as much as the IPod and 2. It is compatible with Windows right off the bat (no extra stuff to buy for a Windows machine). I've only had it for a short time, but I will say it - this player is fantastic. I had everything up and running in about twenty minutes. The instructions are rather sparse and not very well written, but there's not a lot of bookwork involved in the set-up. The most important thing to remember is to let the batteries charge for at least eight hours when you first start using the player. Everything else is intuitive for the computer-savvy and easily worked through by most everyone else. The device itself is smaller than my Sports Walkman. The navigation is easy, once you play with it a couple of times, and the drag-and-drop interface with Windows is seamless.The only negatives I've run into so far is the interface on the MusicMatch Jukebox software is a little cluttered; The separate screens for play lists, recording, etc. do not lock together as smoothly as apps like WinAmp. Future MusicMatch versions will hopefully take care of that. The carrying case and headphones are kind of... too. I use my Sony headphones instead. These are minor quibbles, though. Overall, I am very happy with my Archos player.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for the price. iPod is much better overall
Review: Pros
150 CDs in your pocket - how cool is that?
Easy device-to-PC interface
Open source replacement operating system available Cons:
Seems "fragile"
Operating System bugs
Poor User Interface on the device itself
Feature set needs improvement: needs bookmarking, total disk shuffle, restart current song. Buy this MP3 player if you want big music storage capacity on a budget. If price is not an issue then you definitely want an Apple iPod. I paid $... for this (after rebate). I now see third parties asking for over $... - at that price stay away! - 150 CDs in your pocket - how cool is that?
When it works, it works. You can load about 10,000 minutes of music and play it on the go. For $... that's a good deal. Just don't ever look at a friend's iPod. The iPod is about 2/3 the size, it super reliable, and the user interface is excellent. Plus the iPod uses Firewire which is much faster than USB 1. - Easy device-to-PC interface
Install the driver and plug it in. It shows up as another drive letter. Very nice. - Open source replacement operating system available
For those willing to tinker with such things:
http://rockbox.haxx.se/ - Seems "fragile"
In the 1 week I have had this so far, I have seen 3 hang-ups or boot glitches. I've been able to clear these and restore function by restarting the device, but this indicates a certain fragility in the O/S (or maybe the hardware). - Operating System bugs
A search of the net finds that past O/S versions have been bug ridden. The most recent appears to be better, but I still found a bug in that you cannot delete all of the songs from a playlist (all but 1 is OK, just not all). This problem has a reasonable work-around in that you can do whatever you want to the playlist using a text editor when the device is hooked up to your PC. -Poor User Interface on the device itself
It's actually not bad for 2 LCD lines and 6 buttons. I'm sure this helps keep the price down. Again, if you want a stellar interface, go iPod. --- Feature set needs improvement:
- needs bookmarking:
It's annoying that when you turn it off and back on, you're always back at the top, and have to browse to find where you were previously at. Also, forget about audiobooks on this thing.
- needs total disk shuffle
Shuffle only works within a given folder. One workaround is to create a huge playlist of all your songs and shuffle that
-needs restart current song
Pressing "-" brings you to the previous song. To restart the current song requires the more arcane: on and >, followed by >.
Rating:
Summary: Alright
Review: When it's not broken, it actually works pretty well. It's broken three times, though, in the time I've had it.
Rating: 
Summary: Versatile MP3 Player!!
Review: I have had my Archos Jukebox for a couple of weeks now and couldn't be more happy. I did a lot of research into all of the players out there before deciding on the Archos. The negative comments listed about the Archos were: too big to hold, volume too hard to adjust, and battery life. Every review I saw said it had good sound. I ordered mine because I was looking for a MP3 player and was thinking of getting a portable hard drive. By getting the Archos I killed two birds with one stone. When it arrived it was SMALLER than I expected. It is bigger than most of the other brands but not uncomfortably so. The menu screen is very easy to navigate through and adjusting the volume is not a big deal. In fact, it is very simple. I'm sure everyone wishes the batteries on their MP3 players lasted longer so I am not disappointed in that. Archos does include an extra set of batteries so I keep both sets charged up and haven't had a problem, yet. Changing the batteries was said to be difficult and require a screwdriver. The manual was a little confusing on how to change the batteries, but once I figured it out, I can change mine without tools. I don't like the headphones. They are the kind that sit on the back of your neck and come up over your ears. All of the features work like a charm. I have used it as both a portable hard drive and a MP3 player... both features work great. I run XP on my system and it recognized the hard drive right off the bat. I moved over about 400 songs without a hitch and haven't looked back. If you are thinking of a MP3 player, and the thought of having a portable hard drive has crossed your mind. Look into the Archos. I would have given it 5 stars but the headphones aren't what I would have chose. Hope this helps.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for the money....... until the hard drive crashes
Review: If your looking for an economical way to carry a whole bunch of music around with you, and be able to listen to it with pretty good quality, then this player may do. Don't try to do anything physical though, a little jostling and it'll lock up on you. The sound quality is pretty good, especially with some decent earphones. Download Rockbox firmware for a better interace and some cool new features. Also, be prepared to buy a new one every couple of months. Me and a friend of mine both bought this player at the same time. His lasted about a month b4 succumbing to a "HD ERROR" and mine lasted almost 6 months b4 doing the same thing. On the plus side I spent under 150 on the thing, and got a lot of use out of it over the past half-year. In the end, though, I would recommend shelling out the extra cash for something smaller, lighter, and more reliable.
Rating:
Summary: very good player !!!!
Review: ... ------------ great player overall...keep in mind 10 GB is NOT the actual size..as 10 GB refers to 10,000,000,000 Bytes. so, if you translate that into computer GB where 1024 MB = 1 GB, you'll end up around 9.31 "computer" GB....which is still a lot. i've only used up 1.25 GB, and that's basically all the songs i feel like listening to. ------------ USB 1.1 isn't as bad as what ppl say...again depending on how much you transfer at once. it took me about 30 min. to transfer 1.25 GB, which isn't bad...just go do something else in the meantime. ----------- Headphones look really cool (and i mean really) and foldable/compact, but horrible sound quality. even my cheap $4 intel headphones sound better (deeper bass and doesn't break up nearly as much with higher volume) ----------- MusicMatch..... unlesss you're really into that piece of software, i suggest you stay away from it. especially, if you have your songs ready to transfer into your Archos, you don't need it. Just install the USB driver on your comp, and your Archos becomes a drive letter in Windows Explorer...so, you can just drag-and-drop the songs you want. Using this method, transfering songs was very...and i mean very easy...basically, there's no other pieces of software required. ---------- there are other quick features i'll like to point out...because i believe seeing the other reviewers complain about them. volume control...yes, there are no direct buttons to control the volume, you need to set that in the settings. however, there's a "quick" way to adjust the volume w/o going through the menu... Press "Menu" and "+" to increase volume.
Press "Menu" and "-" to decrease volume. You can also lock the keys (i.e. buttons won't be accidentally pressed while in your backpack, pocket, etc...) Press "Menu" and "Off" to turn key lock on/off. ------------ BTW, this player can handle VBR mp3s very well..at least up to 320 kbit/s, which is the max bitrate i use to encode my mp3s. my personal encoder settings: min->128 kbit/s avg->192 kbit/s max->320 kbit/s. ------------ I have no idea what some of the previous reviewers were talking about regarding the manual...i found it to be pretty easy to understand....and pretty informative. However plz do supplement the manual with http://rockbox.haxx.se That site has a lot of good info. ---------- carrying case...looks pretty good...quality seems good...absolutely useless, not even a clip.
Rating: 
Summary: DON'T BUY THIS
Review: I bought two of these. Both of them broke. Apparently, there is a problem with the recharging device. It overheats easily, and disrupts the internal hard ware. Do not buy this. Archos does not even live up to its warranty.
Rating:
Summary: Good Buy
Review: I have just recently purchase this particular player and am very pleased with it. the storage capacity is great, playback quality is great, its small, lightweight, and easy to use. I definitely recomend anyone interested in one to check it out.
Rating:
Summary: My Mistake
Review: Buying the Archos was entirely my mistake. I was willing to put up with the large size and ugliness to save a few bucks but didn't expect the poor and weak sound quaity. It was easy to set up and use with XP but the USB 1.x is way too slow for use with a 10q gig product especially when you also want to backup some files to it. I found it too big and heavy to keep with me much so don't use it very often. I decided to part with the bucks and go for the iPod. This is what I should have done in the first place-it just doesn't pay to settle for less. The iPod not only sounds much better but is easy to carry around and there are tons of accessories for it making it useful in more situations and offering a lot of choices in cases, car tuners etc. What really impressed me about the iPod was the ease of use with and without the computer. Much more logical and a lot less button pressing to get things done-now I know what they mean when they talk about the iPod's elegance. clearly the software is just as important when deciding on music players. It is just a bonus that the iPod looks kewl and really feels like a quality product. Easy to see why the iPod is the top seller and most desireable player out there. I'll never go cheap again-it just isn't worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Bought it at Amazon, Love it!
Review: I did a ton of research, and decided to get the Archos Jukebox 10 GB. I ordered it from Amazon, and with the free shipping. I got it about 4 days later, but found that the LCD screen was not working. Called Archos, and spoke with a human with only minimal effort. They advised to return it to Amazon, and so I went to the website, and placed my order for an exchange. I got my replacement about 2 days later, and returned the broken one at Amazon's cost. The replacement works great. After updating the Jukebox software, I have no problem downloading all my CD's to it! Batteries last for 6 hours of play or downloading. I have dropped it a couple of times, and still no problems.. Love it and am looking at other Archos products.
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