Archos 6 GB Jukebox 6000 MP3 Player/Hard Drive

by Archos

Product Details

Product Manual [1.52mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 1.3 x 3.2 x 4.5 inches ; 10.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000050NPX
• Item model number: JUKEBOX6000
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (185 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Imagine being able to take your entire music collection with you everywhere you go. The Archos Jukebox 6000 portable MP3 player makes that dream real in a surprisingly small package and at a surprisingly low price. With its 6 GB portable hard drive (similar to the ones used in laptop PCs), the Jukebox 6000 can store over 100 albums and offers the tools you need to easily navigate and manage your tunes.

When we took the Jukebox 6000 into hand, we were immediately surprised at its small size. Measuring 4.5 by 3.2 x 1.3 inches and weighing only 12 ounces, it's much smaller and lighter than other similar players with 6 GB hard drives. The unit runs on a rechargeable NiMH battery that can deliver up to eight hours of playback on a single charge.

Installation went very smoothly, aided by the clearly written manual. We inserted the driver disk and plugged the unit into our PC's USB port. Windows found and installed the appropriate drivers, and the Jukebox 6000 showed up as a hard drive in Windows Explorer. (The Archos Jukebox 6000 is compatible with Windows 98, Me, or 2000, or a Mac running OS 8.6 or higher.) Transferring music files couldn't have been simpler--we just dragged and dropped files as with any hard drive. The Jukebox also works as an external hard drive for storing nonmusic files, making it perfect for making backups or transporting large files.

Of course, with so much storage capacity, organization becomes an issue. Since it's essentially a USB hard drive, we used folders to arrange our files. We made a Rock folder to store all our head-banging albums, a Jazz folder for the Louis Armstrong collection, and so on. The Jukebox shows the folder names on its backlit LCD display, making navigation very simple. Using the included MusicMatch Jukebox software, we could also create MP3 playlists of our favorite songs, an extremely useful feature for organizing music.

The buttons on the face of the unit offer quick navigation, and there's a menu-driven system for setting volume, bass/treble, and random and repeat modes. The Jukebox comes with a pair of plastic headphones that clip over your ears and have a headband that swings around the back of your head. We found them comfortable to wear, and they provided a clear, crisp sound. There's also a line-out for connecting to your stereo system.

The Jukebox is quite rugged and very resistant to jolts, and it comes with a carrying case, which adds further protection. However, the manual recommends you keep it within a 30-degree angle of a horizontal or vertical position. Unlike a flash-memory based MP3 player, which has no moving parts, the Jukebox might not be ideal for taking along while jogging or doing other intense activity.

The Archos Jukebox 6000 finally puts an end to the problem of which songs to put on your MP3 player by letting you include all of them. It sets a new standard for MP3 players, offering huge storage capacity in a small, well-designed package. --Ken Feinstein

Pros:

• Very small and lightweight
• 6 GB memory can store over 100 albums
• Rechargeable battery

Cons:

• Not ideal for active usage

Amazon.com Product Description

The palm-sized Archos Jukebox 6000 has a sleek design that will have you listening to your music collection in style. With a whopping storage capacity of 6 GB, you can listen to more than 100 hours of MP3 music at 128 Kbps. It also doubles as a USB hard drive, with up to a 1,150 Kbps sustained transfer rate. Truly palm-sized, the Jukebox 6000 measures 4.5 inches tall, 3.2 inches wide, and 1.3 inches deep.

The Jukebox 6000 features a proprietary shock protection system that senses any sudden drop of the drive and automatically parks the read heads to a safe landing area before the drive hits the ground. Four thick rubber pads in the corners further cushion shocks, and a 2 MB read-ahead buffer stores from 30 to 100 seconds of music to prevent interruptions caused by shocks or unbalance.

MP3 and WAV file formats are supported, and Archos plans to provide the latest firmware upgrades for additional digital audio formats via downloading from its Web site. RealJukebox software (for PC and Mac) comes bundled with the Jukebox 6000.

The Archos Jukebox 6000 features dual stereo line-in and line-out jacks, an LCD backlit screen, stereo headphones, a carrying pouch, USB connector cable, and an AC adapter (for recharging the 4 AA ni-cad batteries, which provide up to 5 hours of playback).

Important note to customers: The Archos Jukebox 6000 requires a USB connection to your computer. It is compatible with Windows 98 and 2000; Windows 95 and Windows NT are not supported. It is also compatible with USB-enabled Macs running Mac OS 8.6 or higher.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good features, well worth the money, May 22, 2001

By 

Dennis Rosebrough (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Archos 6 GB Jukebox 6000 MP3 Player/Hard Drive (Electronics)

This is an MP3 listener's--and general audiophile's--dream come true. I've stored my entire 100+ CD collection on my jukebox, and I still have room to spare where I can store a whole data CD if I wanted.

The pros are astounding: The size of the storage is enough to justify its price, and the ability of the unit to double as a mobile hard drive is again worth its price. It's very easy to use, and I really like the line out jack as well as the headphone jack (I use it with my computer speakers now instead of my computer's CD-ROM drive to play audio CDs). It's also heavier than most portable MP3 players, but still realatively lightweight--about the size and weight of a small loaded portable cassette player. Mine has proven to be very stable, also, with very few playback problems.

Before I list cons, in fairness, I have to say that it's just so you'll know what you're getting; in my humble opinion, the cons are small annoyances and the pros far outweight them. Note also that an MP3 recordable version of this jukebox is coming out (at a higher price, of course), and according to Archos, a 20GB model (they claim 500 CDs, I estimate more like 400) is due out late in 2001.

The cons are a little irritating: The external remote is not yet available (third quarter, Archos told me). The case is just plain awful--it has a belt loop instead of a clip, so to take it off or put it on, you have to remove your belt, and given that there's no external remote, you have to take the unit out of the case if you want to browse around. There is no volume control on the unit, it's in a submenu. Hint if you already own one: If you hold the ON button down and press the + and - button, it adjusts the volume up and down and saves you some navigation. Also, count on getting a different set of headphones, preferably a set with an inline volume jack. The five-hour battery life is more like four with me, but I fiddle with it a lot while stuff is playing. Don't count on replacing batteries if you're somewhere where you can't recharge the unit; the batteries are almost impossible to access. Last but not least, I don't know if this is true of MP3 players in general (it is of Windows Media Player), but there is a split-second (1/8- to 1/4-second) pause between MP3s. This is annoying of you're listening to a band like Pink Floyd, whose songs tend to cross-fade into each other.

Here's another helpful hint: If you buy this and are a serious user, go to Radio Shack and get part number 273-1863, an adapter for your car, and 273-1711, the adaptaplug H for the connector. It's US$12 total and you can listen to your stuff on trips without wearing out your batteries. If you have a cassette player in your car, pick up a portable CD player-to-cassette conversion kit at your favorite home audio/video store, and you can listen to it on your car's speakers--sweet! If you carry your player back and forth from home to work, get RS part numbers 273-1770 and 273-1711. It's US$14 total, and you won't have to tote the AC adapter around with you or worry about your batteries going dead.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Only a few problems separate this device from true greatness, September 28, 2001

By 

Derek G (North of Cyrodiil) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Archos 6 GB Jukebox 6000 MP3 Player/Hard Drive (Electronics)

This is my luxury item courtesy of the tax rebate (thanks George!) and as you can see I'm doing my best to help keep the economy propped up. My firmware version is 5.02a which, ironically, is higher than the latest driver currently available on the Archos website.

Pros:
1) Ability to store/transfer files. Acts just like a 6 gig portable hard drive. Great if you have two computers. Who needs a zip drive anymore?
2) Installation was painless and connects and disconnects easily from my computer with the included USB cable.
3) Player recharges batteries with included A/C adapter.
4) My device shipped with 2 sets of NIMH batteries, nice plus.
5) Weighs about 12oz, like that can of beer you're drinking. Not rugged, but feels solid (kinda like a beer).
6) Sound quality is good, does not have problems playing "dirty" mp3 files as users have complained about other players.
7) Backlight is bright and makes reading clear in dark environments.
8) Using USB, it transfers files from computer to player at about 1MB/sec or a 100MB file in just over a minute. Plenty quick.
9) Massive storage! I just can't hang with those ridiculously inadequate 32MB, 64MB or even the 128MB players. I'm a music nut, yet I'm still having trouble filling this thing up.

Minor Gripes:
1) Would've liked to have seen a car kit included. $... extra seems high for this accessory.
2) Control dial "mushy", plus you have to hit the left and right buttons to control up and down on the menu. Expect to hear a lot of "how do I do this" questions from other people when they use it.
3) Slight millisecond "gap" when switching songs. Enough to be noticed if you're playing a continuous mix. Does anyone know if the Nomad does this too?
4) Player does display entire song title, but slowly. Would be nice to be able to adjust the settings.
5) A trick in this version is to hold the on button then hit the + and - keys to adjust the volume. Otherwise it's an annoying menu process just to raise and lower the volume.
6) When you power up in dark environments, the backlight doesn't automatically come on. You have to "guess" when the machine gets to the startup menu and fiddle with the buttons before it turns on.
7) When recharging, the LCD screen constantly says "batteries charging" or "batteries charged". I wonder if this will eventually cause screen burn-in?

Cons:
1) Headphones cool looking and have their own volume adjustment but they feel cheap and sound worse. An item priced this high should have included better quality. Plan on upgrading these.
2) Supposedly this player has a "resume" play capability. I can't get it to work. Player will go back to beginning of track, but not the point of the song where you last powered off. Annoying if you have a rather long mp3 - especially because it takes this player a while to fast-forward to the point you left off.
3) Because of the above problem I popped a note to tech support weeks ago. No response yet. Guess everyone else's complaints are valid.
4) Disappointed at only a 90-day warranty. Especially given the number of complaints about this player's reliability.
5) Included version of Musicmatch is junk. Reassociates all your file extensions even if you tell it not to. Then spends all the time telling you to upgrade. Certainly nothing in this program that Winamp (free) can't do.

The biggest selling points of this player in my opinion are its handheld size, its ability to double as a hard drive, and its cheaper price compared to the Nomad.

The negatives that keep me wondering if I should've bought a Nomad instead are this device's lack of resume capability, the slight gap when switching songs, the 90-day warranty, and the fact that the Nomad looks and operates more like a CD player - much more intuitively than this thing.

Hope this review helps you in your decision.

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Possible Choice for what is available today!, May 27, 2001

By 

C. McBeth "McOORAH" (Cave Creek, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Archos 6 GB Jukebox 6000 MP3 Player/Hard Drive (Electronics)

At first I was a bit skeptical of this player. The box has a somewhat cheap appearence, and does not do a good job of conveying the possibilities of this product.

With 6GIG's of space, connectivity to any PC using a USB port, and standard Battery or DC Adapter Voltage, you can use this thing anywhere, anytime, and for so many different things it just cant be beaten for the price. You can easily use it for its intended purpose of listening to MP3 music, but there are so many other things you can use it for, your imagination is really the only boundary.

I have really enjoyed using it to listen to Audio Books on long road trips, Flights, and other times when it is nice to have some interesting company. I also use it to store video cd's which I can play through my laptop. Pictures from my Digital Camera (Canon G-1) often take up hundreds of megabytes, which is a pain to have to put on CD to transport elsewhere. I can load 340mb of Images off my Camera into my computer, drag the files onto my 6GIG jukebox using the regular windows explorer, and take the driver cd with me. Then when I get to my parents, friends, associates house or office, I simply load the usb driver on their system (30sec.) plug the Archos into the USB port, and drag and drop my photos onto their system. It transfers about 1.5mb/sec, so it is very fast compared to <any> removable media out there, and almost as fast as most 5400 RPM hard drives.

As for the unit itself, it is manufactured in a very utilitarian manner, with most effort put into durability and function. That being said, if you can look past the somewhat handmade appearence, you will learn that the unit really is quite solid, substantial, and durable. I use it in its pouch, in my fanny pack when I go ride my Suzuki DRZ400E OFF-ROAD on roads that make your body ache and it never skips a beat. The only thing I wish it had was remote controls. It is definitly a pain to have to stop, unzip fanny pack, unzip carrying pouch, push stop, then reverse the whole process before proceeding.

The sound is good. I have read reviews from other people saying when they turn up the volume or the Bass/Treble it causes distortion and popping etc. I have approx 600 songs loaded on mine all recorded using Music Match at 128kb and I have no concerns about the sound at all, and have not experienced a single pop in the 3 weeks I have had it. I suspect it may have something to do with their recording, or transfer process. The key is to throw away the included headphones and buy a pair of quality Koss, or others. It makes all the difference in the world.

The Batteries are a minor inconvenience. You cant use standard off the shelf 1.5v Alkaliines or you will void the warranty, so you must use the 1.2v 1500mAH batteries included with the unit (even though they are AA size). Mine came with 4 batteries already installed and charged in the unit, and 4 more shrink wrapped, which I assume need to be charged, although I have never needed them. With a full 12 hour charge, I can play continuous music for about 5-8 hours. It depends heavily on how much you mess around changing directories, etc. I would be willing to bet you can charge these batteries externally using any number of standard battery chargers available, althought the manual makes no suggestions that I could find. Some people complain about the batteries being hard to get out, but I wonder why they are trying to take them out anyway. You charge them inside the unit with the supplied AC adapter. I took mine out just for fun and it was easy. Just take a small screw driver or other implement with similar shape and pry very lightly in the slot. Once you have it out about 2mm, simply push the whole battery cover up, away from the body of the unit. It slides right out with no hinderances that I could see.

The layout of the controls is easy to figure out without using the manual which to me is important. Loading music onto it is also just as easy since Windows sees it as just another drive, and you drag and drop your stuff onto it just like any other drive. Use nested folders to organize your files. Once on the Archos Juke box, you can easily navigate through nested subdirectories by using the + key to scroll sideways, and the Play/Pause key to go up or down the directory structure.

Over all I am very impressed with this unit. It has lived up to my expectations in every way, and I am a perfectionist. The only thing I would like to see is a USB interface that you could plug into it that would allow direct download of CF & Smart Media cards. That way you could bring it along with your Digi Cam, and download your 340mb of images at the end of every day without needing to haul your laptop around with you!

If you have specific questions, feel free to contact me.