Rating: 
Summary: Awesome MP3+ player!
Review: Forget about the Ipods!This ARCHOS Jukebox will have Ipods for breakfast any day! I've had mine for a few months now and absolutely love it. I live overseas and I don't get to listen to any American radio stations... that was until I got this Jukebox. Now, the only thing I have to do is record Internet radio directly into my Jukebox and Presto! I have any good ol' US Radio Station that I want, and I can listen to it on way to work. I have a music (MP3) download engine on my computer and I can download all the songs that I want, organize them in folders, mix and match, or play it any way I like in my Jukebox with absolutely no problems whatsoever. I'm pretty sure there are some slicker players out there, but if you want the most bang for your buck go for this one!
Rating:
Summary: Are people crazy?
Review: This one of the best jukeboxes out there. People are crazy to complain about the user manuel (yes it [is bad]) because if you visit the actual archos website, you will have an extreamly detailed manuel. Also, the JBR is fine the way it is with the archos firmware, but with rockbox, it gets even better. The noise gets louder, battery life improves, and just too many things to list. I just have to say that this is a great and realiable jukebox that doesn't really have any problems. People probably just got defective JB's which happens to any brand.
Are people crazy? there's just too many things to list about this item which makes it great...
Rating:
Summary: Finally I found the perfect one!
Review: This thing rocks! I searched around and re-looked at so many different mp3 players before finally settling on this one. First of all, this one had the best reviews and also had all the features I wanted. Here are some highlights of it: 1) Good battery life. I get at least 8 hours out of it and I still have battery left. I haven't had to use it longer than 8h ours so I don't know how much longer it lasts. I'm sure if you do a lot of recording it'll drain quicker. I think most of the people that complain about battery life are heavily using it for recording. Also, I think if you keep the backlight on a lot or you use shuffle a lot that can also decrease the battery life faster. I keep my backlight on the lowest setting and I only use shuffle occasionally. 2) Lots of space and FAST! We're talking 20GB here! I fit my entire mp3 library of 15GB on this thing so I can listen to all of my music at work or in the car. It's awesome! Also, the USB2.0 is so fast. I transferred my entire 15GB library in only 30 minutes! This thing can also be used as a normal hard drive. So I have another 5GB I can use to transfer stuff around. 3) No special software. You don't have to install the MusicMatch software that comes with this thing. It's a piece of junk anyway, and that's MusicMatch's fault, not Archos. The iPod also uses MusicMatch and it has the same complaint, except you're REQUIRED to use their special software! The Archos just hooks up, appears as a drive called JUKEBOX in your explorer, and you just drag-and-drop. I didn't install anything when I got mine; I just plugged it in. 4) Sounds great. This thing sounds just as good as my portable CD player. I haven't used the headphones that come with it because I never use bundled headphones, but if you have a favorite pair of headphones, I think you'll be pleased with the sound. Plus, the sound is very configurable to your tastes. 5) Firmware is EASY. The people that complain about the software and manual must be morons. I haven't picked up the manual once and I know how all the features work. It's just so intuitive. A couple tips: o) Hold down the 'play' button for a couple seconds on a directory or on a song to add it to the playlist.
o) Yes, you CAN edit playlists from within the archos. There's a menu for it right in the main menu.
o) Use the up/down keys to increase/decrease the volume during playback.
o) Charge the Archos for a few hours before transferring files over. Otherwise, it won't go as fast and your connection might be terminated because there's not enough power. When I first got this thing, I made the mistake and I almost thought this thing was flaky. I left for a couple hours, came back, and it's worked flawlessly ever since. There's another firmware called Rockbox (you can search for it on Google) that's supposedly better. I used it for a bit, but I actually found the Archos firmware to be more intuitive so I haven't messed around with Rockbox much. I'll prolly get around to it. Upgrading the firmware is really easy too. You just drag a file onto the hard-drive. If you accidently delete the archos firmware, you can just download it from their website. Don't listen to others about their Tech Support reviews. Sure, I wish it were an 800 number, but I've talked to them and they were fine. I had to RMA my very first one due to a malfunctional touch pad, but I got my new one right away and I've been so happy ever since. Someone likes to use these shady statistics of "Oh, well 11 of 84 had problems so that must mean 130,000 out of 1,000,000 units fail!" You just can't compare things in that way. It doesn't take into consideration people that never reviewed, bought ones from other sites, complained but then had their units replaced and are happy, etc. Save yourself hassle and money. The iPod is way overpriced and delicate. This thing is not bulky (even though some people say it's heavy), and it's not going to scratch from you breathing on it. People that say this obviously haven't used an iPod. iPods are fragile and once you scratch it the first time, you'll start crying because you spent A LOT of money on it. Overall, this is the right unit for the right price. And, if you don't like some features, there's an active project to make new and enhanced features. Lots of people use this thing and are happy. I'm one of them.
Rating: 
Summary: It melted
Review: When I first got it I loved it. Easy to use. Just drag and drop as it registers as an additional hard drive. The warranty is 3 months and lo and behold in my 4th month disaster strikes. I usually leave it charging overnight about 6-8 hrs. I've noticed that it buzzs when in the charger and that it gets quite hot. Well one day I accidentally forgot to take it with me and left in the charger for a total of about maybe 16 hrs in the charger. When I came home I smelt burned electronics and i ran over to see the player and it actually melted from the inside out. It shouldn't melt just because it was left in the charger so long or am i expecting too much? Bad craftmanship. And just my luck it happened a month after the warranty expired. I am going to try and call them back to see if they can do anything for me. All i have to say is buyers beware
Rating:
Summary: Buyer Beware
Review: Sound quality good. Ease of operation fair. But tech support is a nightmare. Impossible to get on the phone and it's you who's paying for the 60 minute wait, after which you can't get anyone anyway. When you finally do get someone, they're not helpful. My unit had to be sent in before the warranty expired. Although there was nothing wrong with the playback they sent me a new unit and all the files I had recorded were gone. When I finally reached them, they were rude and bad-tempered. Stay away from Archos if you're smart!
Rating:
Summary: YOU'RE BETTER OFF BUYING AN 8-TRACK PLAYER
Review: This is one of the worst items I've ever encountered. There are too many reasons to list them all; I'll give you the short version. 1. The instruction book that everyone else is complaining about is horrible. It's only good quality is that is shows the thinking behind this product. One of the main features of this Jukebox is that you can use it even if you don't have a computer, just import your cds straight from your cd player, so these geniuses give you an instruction book that can only be read on your computer (it's on the cd for those that like me thought they didn't even get instructions) 2. The software it came with not only didn't work, it reconfigured XP so now I get NO SOUND FROM ANY PROGRAM! I have to find the windows disc and try to fix whatever this Archos garbage did to my drivers. 3. The headphones that people have been trashing weren't even in my box! It was still factory sealed...they just weren't there. I called to see if they'd send me a pair and they told me that I must have lost them. I said I opened the box five minutes ago and they're not in it. They said there was nothing they could do. 4. It weights a ton compared to similar players, yet feels like a cheap piece of junk (think knock-off action figure) that's gonna fall apart if you breath on it too hard. Oh, and in real life it looks even more like a stick of deodorant than it does in the picture. 5. This is the big one: IT DOES NOT WORK, and THEY DON'T CARE!!!! I charged it for the ridiculous 8 hours you need to charge before it will turn on the first time, and when it turned on I got a message saying that it couldn't read from the hard disk. I called Archos, and the operator told me that the wait for tech support was over an hour (by the way, their support line is not an 800 # and in my case the hour wait would be at a long distance rate from New York to California) She added that they probably wouldn't get to me before they shut down for the weekend (It was only 2:00 in California were they are). I told her what happened and she said that it was normal and I just had to charge the battery overnight. I was annoyed that I had just charged it for 8 hours and now I was being told I needed to charge it for another 8-10 hours, but I did it, and as soon as I woke up I tried it again. Same exact error message. It simply does not work.
My gut reaction was that I just got a lemon, but I went online and read more customer reviews and realized that out of 84 reviews 11 other people had defective units, that's 13%. That means if Archos managed to sell a million of these things, 130,000 WOULDN'T WORK!!! It's insane. Some people are on their third unit! And what's more disturbing is that many people report that theirs worked for a few days and then just quit on them; so even if yours works, you don't know if it will tomorrow. Even the good reviews of this item bash the firmware, the tech support, the instructions, the batteries, the software, the microphone, the display and other aspects....these are the good reviews! My thinking is that people are so blinded by the price tag as compared to the ipod that they don't care if the thing is any good. They want it so badly that they'll just make due with whatever they get. In the end I returned the item to Amazon, and bought a Nomad Jukebox 3. It worked out of the box, and I'm enjoying a 100 song custom playlist as I write this. It was a little more money, but when you figure in that I no longer need a to buy a USB 2.0 card, it comes out to be the same. In closing, I'm sorry that this "short version" was so long, but I really wanted to convey how frustrating this product is. There are at least 4 other 20 GB mp3 players that are less $$ than Ipod, and I strongly recommend you get one of them because short of a player that bursts into flames when you turn it on, nothing could be worse than this one.
Rating:
Summary: It is what it says it is
Review: Its heavy but I would not run around with a 20 gig harddrive anyway. I found it for a good price with rebates and so forth so be on the lookout for those. The mac wont withstand running around either-so what if it is a little bit heavy. It sits with me in my car on my computer anywhere I spend time. If I need to carry it(jogging) I have enough money left over to buy a real portable armband device or something.
Rating: 
Summary: Archos...it was the best of times it was the worst of times
Review: I never gave mp3 much thought,being somewhat of an audio snob and a devotee of DAT (yes, really). But the idea of carrying around hours, days, and months worth of music in a small package enticed me to explore the idea. The ipod is too costly, the Creative Nomad Zen seemed cool but lacked some functions, wasn't generally available, and was also too pricey. I hit on the Archos, got it for a decent price and set off to use it. Uh oh. The manual is awful and gives no clue as to how to use this thing. Plus I had no experience with converting files to mp3. Well, after a few weeks of mistakes, a steep learning curve, and lots of bad language, I must say this little guy has many positives to recommend it. The sound is surprisingly good and once you discard the manual and do trial and error it actually is pretty easy to use. It is very fast downloading through USB2. I began using it by recording direct, but that's the hard way. Using it as a drive is easy and fast. So far I'd say it's worth the price and a fun way to go. Can't give it 5 stars due to the elongated learning curve. Come on people, get someone who speaks English to write the manual. Tune in again next month for an update (hopefully).
Rating:
Summary: Archos just doesn't get it
Review: Overall, there were a lot of technical glitches, and the display is a major battery drain. I gave up on this after a couple of months and went with a Creative Zen, and am much happier. Archos is a French company, their service is terrible, and even though the device is sexy out of the box, there are too many problems for a device this expensive
Rating:
Summary: Impressive little unit!
Review: I am quite impressed with this little unit. (It really is quite small, and feels better in my hand than the Nomads.) It powered right up out of the box and began playing some French rock song.
I intuitively figured out nearly all of the controls, and have been easily downloading my cd's to it. With my Bose headphones, it sounds great and plays nice and loud. So far other complaints I've read seem trivial or picky. I wish it used wma files so I could cram my whole cd collection on it, but I'll probably just upgrade to a 40gb unit eventually. I highly recommend it!
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