Rating: 
Summary: "Great Value, don't understand negative reviews"
Review: First, I was very wary of this product after reading all the negative reviews. I have experienced none of the problems people have complained about. I believe the problem is the documentation. This unit is a hard drive and if you have basic knowledge of computers it is quite easy to operate. I suspect most of the negative reviews were from folks with little computer skills. Just a guess. I finally looked at the manual before I wrote this review and I agree with others that it sucks. But, I didn't even use it. I am running WIN2K and loading the USB drivers is straight forward. Once done, it is now a hard drive accessed from Windows explorer. I simply copied the files over to it and it worked fine. I found the controls and the navigation straight forward. There needs to be a little more here in terms of a user guide however. I agree with others that the headphones shipped with the product suck. I replaced them with the Koss Ear Buds. I spend a great deal of time on airplanes and these help with the external noise. I disagree with those who found fault with the sound the device puts out. With the Ear Bugs it is very good. Fit and finish are ok. The face plate on mine didn't fit perfectly and the battery cover on the left is off a bit. Other then that it seem quite rugged. Contrary to what others have said, I can't make it skip. I have used it with my inline skates and mountain bike. No problems. I didn't use the MusicMatch Juke Box software that ships with the unit. I use Winamp and another product to rip tracks from CD's. I am sure it is a fine product. I just didn't want to figure out how to use it. Lazy I guess. In summary, I am quite happy with the product. It may not have all the features that the Nomand has, but...it has the features I wanted. The Nomand is much more. I also like the fact that it uses AA NiMH Batteries. I hate proprietary batteries on any consumer electronic device. The batteries are quit easy to swap out by the way. Make sure you check out Archos website on how to do this before you try. Brian........
Rating: 
Summary: Technology not come of age as yet
Review: I busted my trusty MD player and was trying to decide between a MD player and an mp3 player. I went for the Jukebox first because I liked the idea of having my whole music collection on one player. However I did return it in the end because it was simply too big and clunky. There were some other issues in terms of portability with the batteries only lasting 6 hours or so and the simply tacky carrying case provided, which further added to the bulk of the item..in short I would advise anyone who wants to have a good selection of music to listen to for extended periods of time to invest in an MD player, at least until hard drive based mp3 players become smaller and more robust.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent product, but.....
Review: This is an excellent product, but:
-Data transfer is too slow
-Doesnt allow me to enqueue songs like in winamp
-Is a bit bulky All said and done, I'm willing to live with these cons as it allows me to keep all my music in the palm of my hand wherever I go!
Rating: 
Summary: Very satisfied
Review: I received my Jukebox two weeks ago from amazon and am very pleased with it. Began charging right when I got it and when it was done plugged it into a computer with Windows 98 and a screen automatically came up with instructions for adding a new hard drive. Now that the one time setup is done all I have to do is plug it in and go to My Computer and the new drive (E: for me) is automatically there. I don't know what that other reviewer was talking about when he said it isn't hot-swappable, it is. I personally did not use the Musicmatch software ... Transfer took about 40 seconds per cd. Be aware that during the transfer the batteries are used up much much faster than during regular use. I highly suggest organizing your collection into lots and lots of folders, because it is a little tough to navigate if you have a lot of stuff in a single directory ...P>Now I can carry all 260+ of my cds in a tiny player everywhere and use it in my car with one of those cassette adapters. Even better, I can transfer movies or files for school or anything without burning cds (takes longer) or floppies (no space). I haven't had any HD Errors show up and sound quality has been excellent ... Also, this thing hasn't skipped on me a single time, but I haven't ran with it, just walk with it in my pocket. It's not heavy by any means. Only things I wish it had:
- random or shuffle.
- being able to browse other folders while playing ...
- volume button so you dont have to enter menu to change it. Even with these things I give it a five, and wish I could give it higher. I love this thing:).
Rating:
Summary: great gadget if you read the advice here
Review: I bit the bullet and bought one of these after reading all these reviews. Guess I was feeling lucky! One thing that really helped was printing out all the reviews that offered advice here, some of it is invaluable. It would be very easy to mess things up with only the manual to go by. My player works great, I use it for storage and also for a bedside MP3 player, I don't carry it around, there's portable players for that. A couple times I've messed up and forgotten to follow the sequence for removing it from my pc, without any damage. Also, mine is plugged into a USB hub (it says not to do that) and it works just great there. Don't use a screwdriver to remove the battery covers, just be gentle and use a fingernail, it doesn't take brute strength, just a bit of finess. It's a terrific device, I'm so glad I bought it!
Rating:
Summary: Almost Perfect
Review: This is by far the best portable sound device I have ever used, but it would be absolutely perfect if it: - Had RANDOM
- Had Higher-Resolution Screen
- Had USB 2.0
- Wouldn't need a ScanDisk performed every week or so Otherwise, I love it. I would recommend this or the Recorder version to anyone who loves MP3.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it so much that I returned it
Review: The choices in MP3 players are simple: solid state, CD, or hard disk. Before I bought the Archos Jukebox, I though the CD format is best for me. However, after purchasing the Archos 20G Jukebox Player, I know that the HD is the best way to go. There just isn't any substitute for having your entire music collection with you, all the time. Having said that, I decided to return the Jukebox Player. Why? Because I decided that I want its big brother, the Archos Jukebox *Recorder*. The Archos Jukebox *Player* was so good that it convenienced me that the HD is the format I want, and therefore I don't mind spending the extra [price] or so for the Recorder. For the extra [price], you get the following (in the order of importance to me): 1. Higher resolution display. The Player can display only one line of text (the name of the song) while you are browsing the song list and while the song is playing. This limits your capability to quickly move through the list. The Recorder's higher resolution LCD screen can display about 8 lines of text, and lots more information about the MP3 file you're playing. 2. Recording capability - you can generate MP3 files by directly hooking up an audio source to the Recorder. However, the limitation is that it only records in VBR (Variable Bit Rate) and the sound quality (if you hook up analog) just isn't going to be as good as digital copies. 3. User interface and buttons. The Recorder has 4 more buttons (10 vs. 6) which makes the user interface a lot more intuitive. Gone is the two-key combination for volume control of the player, as well as other strange key combinations. 4. USB 2.0 interface - if you have a USB 2.0 interface on one of your computers, you'll be able to access the Recorder drive (which is USB 2.0 compatible) at 480mbps, instead of 12mbps in the case of the Player (USB 1.1). The difference in speed is night-and-day. Either way, with the Player or the Recorder, make sure you evaluate an open source firmware, "Rockbox". Believe it or not, it actually improves the sound quality over the original, Archos firmware! The battery cover on the Archos is notorious for difficult to open. Here is a tip - use the cap of a BIC pen and insert the pointy protrusion (slanted side out) into the battery hole on either side of the LCD screen. This will slide the cover out slightly, then pull the battery cover up and out. Batteries on any electronic device should be much easier to get to, but with the BIC cap technique, you can remove the batteries in 5 seconds flat. Note: the Player (#500204) is the play-only model, while the Recorder is the model that also records (#500277)
Rating:
Summary: All's Well, Still!
Review: Me again! Quick update on the Archos Jukebox 20. • Batteries charge fine now and display BATERIES CHARGED when topped off. The unit warms up slightly when charging but can stay on the charger when completed. • Stopped by Headphone.com and picked up a pair of Grado SR60 headphones, an AirHead headphone amp, and their AirBag to hold it all. I'm in portable music heaven. I never thought you could get such good sounds from a portable. Do your self a big favor and do the same.
Rating:
Summary: Jukebox Studio 20 review
Review: I have recently purchased the Jukebox Studio 20 from Amazon.com. At first I was hesitant due to some of the bad reviews placed on this website. Fortunately, there were also some really good reviews that discussed all the ins and outs for this product. It were these reveiws that influenced my purchasing decision. This item works great. I have loaded appox. 60 CD's in the first couple of days. I wasn't sure at the time of purchase whether it was worth purchasing a different unit that was USB 2.0 compatible. Since using the player, I have found the limitation is the upload time from CD to computer (appox. 3-5 min.). The actual transfer from computer to player is relatively fast (<1 min.. I originally used the add in available from Musicmatch to download to the player. This takes a long time and you end up naming folders on the player. The easiest way is to drag and drop from My Music folder found in the My Documents folder. I strongly recommend that the albums are organized by genre, that is I have file folders on the player for Rock, Pop, Metal, etc. The albums recorded by Musicmatch are then dropped into the appropriate folder. All information (Artist, albums, songs)is transferred from one folder to the next which makes it easy to navigate and find the music. I went to the Archos website and it has many useful tidbits of information including firmware updates. The version installed currently is 5.08 which is later than the ones posted on their website (5.07a). Again, I am extremely happy that I have purchassed this product. It will be very useful on those long flights and I will also finally have music as I am driving a rental in the desolate parts of our great country. P.S. Clean CD's before recording. A skip on the computer will be a skip on the player.
Rating:
Summary: All's Well, so far!!
Review: I have a Creative Labs Nomad II MG, another horror story from the past, but I needed more capacity. I looked at the Rio Riot but it is huge and generally goofy looking. The I-Pod looks nice, but it will set you back five bills. Apple products are for the rich and famous! I saw Amazon.com had the Jukebox Studio 20 for [price] with [price] in rebates. [Price]the door. A coworker has the 6000 and it has been working fine for some time so I figured, for [price], I probably can't loose, maybe....
The big brown truck showed up and I was a happy guy. I let it charge before using it.... about 15 minutes. They say six hours but I had a different agenda. I started loading it up and have not stopped. This is what I have found. * The headphones are junk! Throw them to your neighbors dog. Maybe one day a company will spend a few bucks more and supply their player with a good, not excellent (read $$), pair of headphones. That way people won't be complaining about the sound quality of their new player when it's really the fault of the 12 cent headphones supplied with it. Nuff said. * No real input about the manual as I really didn't use it. Obviously written in China by someone who felt they had a handle on the English language. If you can't figure the Jukebox out by messing with it, maybe you shouldn't have it. (This does not apply to creating Play-Lists on the Jukebox. I'm still confused. I create them with MusicMatch and copy the .m3u files to the root directory on the Jukebox. I'm one for the easy route.) * Battery compartment. Stay out! I had the grandiose idea of having two sets of batteries that I would swap back and forth between player and charger. I do this with my Nomad. After opening the battery compartment once, I could see this was not a good idea. I use it during the day and charge at night. Works for me so far but I have not been on the road with it as of yet. Don't tell Archos but I have swapped out the 1500 mAh with a set of 1800 mAh. Every bit counts. My Jukebox has yet to display 'BATTERIES CHARGED'. Hour after hour is say 'BATTERIES CHARGING...' and never stops. After eight to ten hours the batteries have warmed up and I take it off charge. The web page states that version 5.07a fixed the overcharge problem. Maybe version 5.08 un-fixed it?? (Contrary to popular belief, NiMH batteries can loose capacity if they are not discharged each time. Not as susceptible as NiCad's, but it's still a good idea to cycle them.) * User Interface. Works ok for me but I have all my music organized in sub directories by Genre, then artist, then album. I have an Assorted folder in each Genre sub directory for, duh, Assorted music. If you do not have good organization as you load you music, your dead meat! I have a server with all my music loaded on it. My player is loaded the same way. If my player freaks, I don't. I just copy my entire music collection from my server back to my Jukebox. Takes quite a while but is relatively painless. * Firmware. My Jukebox came with version 5.08 loaded with a date of Feb 15, 2002. The Archos web page has version 5.07a with a date of Jan 29, 2002. Not sure why after six months they have not posted version 5.08. Stay Tooned! * Sensitivity. None so far? The Jukebox contains a Hitachi DK23DA-20 hard drive. Read up here: [URL] . Hitachi clams the drive can withstand a non-operational bump of 800G/1ms and an operational bump of 180G/1ms. I have bumped it a few times with no affect on playing. The player has a good sized buffer so the drive does not spend too much time running. I don't think I'll go for the 800G test right now... All in all I like the Jukebox Studio 20. They loose one star for the headphones. Also, I think they should push out the spin down time on the hard drive a little longer. If you wait more than a few seconds scanning songs, the drive spins down and you have to wait for it to spin up. It takes more battery power starting and stopping the drive that it would leaving it running for, let's say , ten seconds. I have been in possession of it for a few weeks and I'm problem free. (Knock on wood!) If you don't see flaming, seething, poison postings in the future, you can assume all is well.
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