Customer Reviews

Archos Jukebox 10 GB MP3 Player/Recorder/Hard Drive 500297

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

When I first looked into getting an Archos Recorder I was a little worried because of the mixed reviews. What I found once I purchased the item is probably typical of anything you buy, while some of what people said was true others were not so true. First of all anyone who gives this product less than 4 stars is being over-critical. Most of these individuals are upset because it doesn't perform that one little task they thought it would, the way they thought is should or they broke it themselves and are taking out their misuse of the product on the product it self. Here are some of the untrue myths about the recorder:

1. "You can't make playlists on the unit itself"-WRONG. You can use playlists created off unit by Winamp or other MP3 Players OR you can create playlists on the unit itself.

2."Because it's a hard drive it can't be used while running(or any activity that causes the unit to bounce around)-WRONG I bounced it, shook it, and did everything I could to TRY and make it skip and I couldn't.

3."The plastic casing is poorly made"-LOOK PEOPLE, Throw an IPod and this player up against the same wall. They both break the same. It's a delicate piece of technology not a baby chew toy. Besides it comes with a carrying case that protects it from any hazards outside of a warzone(where the rest of us live).

NOW Valid Issues With The Archos Jukebox Recorder
1. "Firmware isn't the greatest"-Very True. The IPod's OS is much better suited for MP3 sorting capabilities while Archos's seems to be suited more for data. For example, when playing songs the player won't play songs outside of the folder you are in. You can solve this by making a huge playlist with all of your songs on it.

2."You can hear the hard drive spinning when you are recording.."-True. This is only the case when using the built-in mic(which was desined for voice-recording, where little beeps really don't matter). Laptops often have this same issue. It can be solved by using an outside mic or recording from a source that can be connected to the line in port.

All in all this is a excellent product, the price reflects it's value. If you want something with better on-board software pay the extra money for an ipod, however as far I know ipod's don't have the excellent recording feature provided with this player.

Thanks For Reading My Review!!

The Archos jukebox series has been bad in the past. Lets be honest, the first jukebox releases came with a backlit screen that allowed you to see three lines of text. That can't possible be a good thing. Lets also recall the output quality of the first jukeboxes. Not too good. No bass, almost like you were playing your music through a tin can. Nasty! But now, the NEW SERIES of Archos high capacity jukeboxes have made a complete turn around. Up to 8 lines of text! This means you can see EXACTLY what you're playing AND whats going to play next! You can scroll through lists and lists of songs. Yes the playlist function still chokes on lists longer than 30 songs. There is a very easy solution: just organize songs into folders. I have over 100 songs in a single folder, the player does not choke! Batteries are also a plus. Yes it takes a skilled surgeon to remove the battery covers, but they're still AA batteries. Other mp3 players have those nasty telephone batteries that cost over fourty dollars to buy! Thats crazy! Just buy a huge pack of rechargable batteries and bring them around with you. Its a lot cheaper, and, not to mention a lot smarter. The screen is backlit AND has a battery saver option. It does scare me a bit that when youre charging your batteries the LCD screen stays lit, but Im sure the fine people at Archos have thought of that...I hope. Firmware is easy to download too. The sound of the player is a million times better than its previous brother. Bass is good, mid range is not so bad, and the highs are perfectly crisp. Ah NOW ON TO THE BOOTLEGGING PART! You can take this device to a concert, set it on your lap and tape the entire thing with very little background distortion. Take it back to your computer, label it, put it in a folder of concerts or whatever, and you have your own private stash of concerts. Pretty sweet, I must say. All in all this is a perfect device. It holds a ton, and it looks pretty good. Its smaller than the D-link Roq it, and has far better output. If you have the money, seriously consider the Archos Jukebox 10GB Recorder. Its an amazing device.

I got this ... after ditching the Nomad Jukebox for its dire battery life and buggy MP3 software. and its a dream come true! Let me tell you why.

1) DRAG AND DROP files from the Windows Explorer! It shows up as an extra Hard Drive in My Computer! No need for slow awkward transfer software!

2) USE IT TO CARRY YOUR OTHER FILES AROUND! Because of the drag and drop system store any files of your choice, such as pictures or software files, applications. I have a folder on it solely for other files, kept away from the MP3s.

3) A DRASTICALLY IMPROVED MANUAL!. Ive read the manual to the original Jukebox and yes it was bad. After sitting down and reading this new manual, it was a huge improvement, step by step flow charts and every feature explaned. The grammar and spelling still has room for improvement, but overall a huge step up. Plus the website has further hints and tips.

4)EXCELLENT SOUND QUALITY!. The supplied headphones are perfectly acceptable, but for even better sound try some of Sony's range. You get loads of enhancements such as Bass Boost, Loudness, Bass, Treble and Balance.

5)RECORD DIRECTLY TO MP3. Use the built in mic or analogue or digital inputs. You even get a free Y-cable thrown in for analogue recording via the Line-in. Nice! And the sound is great as well. you can change the quality from 1 (low) to 7 (CD sound)Plus you can change the sampling rate from 16Khz to 48Khz, and alter the recording level as record. Monitor the clear level meters to avoid clipping or distortion :-)

6)PLAYLISTS! You can create a playlist on-the-fly, or you can use the supplied Musicmatch software for playlist building. I don't like Musicmatch so I use Winamp to make my playlists and I use Freerip to rip my MP3s. RIP DIRECTLY ONTO THE ARCHOS WITH FREERIP!

7) BUILD QUALITY! The body design is silver metal with blue rubber corners for shock protection. The buttons have a nice positive click when depressed. Overall the unit feels very study and that gives me the confidence to take it out and about without fear of malfunction. You can change the batteries without a screwdriver if you are very careful, thereby preserving the Archo's sexy looks.

8)The Jukebox cannot randomly shuffle across multiple folders. WRONG!

Just make up a large playlist up to 1000 songs from any directory of your choice, hit Shuffle mode and away you go! 1000 songs is almost more than 2 days of continous music! Also you can randomly shuffle across ALL directories if you are using Windows XP and Windows Media Player! When your PC is powered up, switch the Jukebox on, plug the USB cable in, click on Play Files With Windows Media Player, click on Shuffle in Windows Media Player and away you go! (The USB cable is the only lead required).

9) Finally BATTERY LIFE! 10 hours on a full charge. Why have an MP3 player with hundreds of songs if the batterys only last 4 hours (take note Creative Labs!)

So there you have it. Im so happy with my Archos im never away from it. Wherever I go, my Archos follows.

I LOVE MY ARCHOS!

Good things:
- The sound is good. Surprisingly good bass.
- Batteries do last around 10 hours. Batteries run out faster if you do recording.
- Very easy to plug to USB to transfer files.

Weird things:
- There is a subtle, but detectable, buzzing/whining in the background. It does not get louder as you increase the volume. You can hear it if you press pause while playing a song. This won't be noticeable if you listen to pop or rock, but will be noticeable if you listen to classical or showtunes. Other users seem to think it's due to electrical interference with the audio signal. The easiest workaround seems to be using earphones with inline volume control, and decreasing the volume on the inline control will get rid of the buzzing.
- If you grab the battery casings too hard, or push too hard on the blue rubber corners, the unit will turn on or off. So when you try to take the unit out of the plastic packaging and it turns on suddenly, this is why.
- Some people think the batteries are incredibly difficult to change. I was able to remove the battery covers with my fingers alone with no problem. You need to push outward, and then remove the cover upward.
- The paint on the buttons comes off easily.
- The backlighting stays on when you recharge the batteries. To avoid this, you turn the unit on, wait till the backlight goes off, and then plug the charger in and it will charge with no backlighting.

I think this device is great and this is why.
GOOD THINGS:
1. You don't have to be a computer genius to work the jukebox. I took it out of the box and was listening to music on it in less than a half hour.
2. It comes with alot of useful equipment.
3. If anybody is in a band or into recording live concerts the jukebox 10 is a great thing to have. You can hook a better mic up to the jukebox and record an entire concert in mp3 format. Than just put the recorded music back on your computer, split up the songs, and you have a live concert CD of your band! It's great!
4. Can rip records easily without special software.
5. Easy to navigate and organize.
6. I can store my memory eating movies on it too, along with any other kind of file.

BAD THINGS:
1. I dislike MusicMatch, but its not that bad.
2. It takes a little more time than a CD player to load songs.
3. No hold or safety button to prevent accidental button pushings.
That's about it! I think the jukebox 10 is really great and you get what you pay for.

This product really deserves 4.5 stars but I decided to round down because it does have some quirky flaws. First, the quirky flaws:
1) It needs a separate volume control (i.e jog shuttle control), you have to drill down a couple menus before you can change the volume.
2) The manual is nearly useless. Seems like it was written in another language then translated back into English.
3) When you charge the batteries (I still haven's figured out where they are yet), it doesn't tell you when they are done charging....kinda odd. Maybe that's a firmware issue.
4) Headphones are junk, but they usually are. They do have a volume control but I recommend a good sony or seinnheiser pair if listening on an airplane.
5) The design is kind of clunky and button design and feel could be improved upon. (I bought it for it's small size and features)

The gripes above are few and far between because the product works exactly like it is supposed to (if you're tech savvy). It shows up as another hard drive on your desktop and you can drag and drop as you please. I've used it transport large files back and forth between my laptop and desktop as well as for my music collection. Also, this product is nearly half the size as of the Creative Labs version and in my opinion, has better sound.

After doing a lot of research on various internet sites and looking at electronics stores, the Archos stood out. Mine had no problems out of the box and performed perfectly. I haven't tried the recorder function of the player yet but am pleased it has a digital input/output to connect with my stereo at home or in the car. On the average, the internal rechargeable batteries have lasted around 8-10 hours (excellent for a hard drive player). Everything can be organized by folders on your computer or on the player (pretty nice) and you can set up playlists however I group everything by folders. The menus are pretty intuitive and decent. Song information is displayed by the file name and the ID3 tag which is standard.

If you want a cool device that doubles as a portable hardrive and recorder, there really isn't anything out there that beats the Archos right now. However, I imagine the IPOD will wants they decide to make it compatible with a PC. Highly recommended despite its flaws!

While drooling over Apple's iPod, I'm glad I saw alternatives. The Archos unit has the incredibly useful ability to record. This feature is huge! Newer units have a 20 GB disc and USB 2.0 which only makes things better. Consider this. Remember all those times you needed to record something? Tape recorder, right? 120 minutes at best. Special long-play units degrade quality. Remember scrambling to flip the tape? 10 GB means 10,000 minutes at standard MP3 settings. Use an external plug-in mic for a cleaner recording. Can we say college lectures? Piano recitals? You name it. No software needed to have an MP3 version. The J'box does it for you. Just hook it up to the computer and drag it over. Burn a CD, save on the 'puter. Whatever. If you don't like MusicMatch, sheeeesh, use something else. I do. Don't have a computer? Plug into your CD player and record/encode that way. Record radio too! Got a concert DVD? You can record that too! I kinda wish mine had an FM tuner (Archos makes one with that too), it'd be a nice addition, but after a couple of those stupid commercials I don't miss it so much. One glaring feature that isn't present in the firmware is sleep mode. It can be a minor hassle starting up all the time. Adjusting the "stay on" time helps, but also eats power. The headphones aren't the best, but not that bad either, especially out in the world where they can get smooshed. I get along fine with USB 1.1 since I'm not swapping 1000 tunes every 3 days. Just drop the files, go do something else, come back in a few min. and it's done. The manual? So-so. Remember to charge the unit for several hours the first time before first use, and any time you replace the batteries. Frustrating, but necessary. I also use a cassette adapter in the car. It still amazes me that all my stuff is in that little box. No backseat-full of tape and CD cases, and the big black music briefcase...anybody remember slamming on brakes with a carload of tapes? INCOMING!!! Speaking of tapes. If you have a lifetime of taped stuff, you can plug in and record onto the J'box and have a digital copy of all that stuff. Burn it all onto a CD or two and finally ditch those boxes of old tapes (which are degrading as you read this). Like I said, I'm havin' a blast with this thing!

I have iMac DV, OS 9.0.4, USB 1.1. I had absolutely no problems setting up this player. The sound is superb.

I researched players for Mac all over the web before I decided on the Archos - the price and features seemed the best for the money. Don't believe all the bad reviews from other consumers which you may read. This player is truly excellent, at least for me.

Got my player August 21, 2002 - so far no problems whatsover. I was skeptical, reading all sorts of bad reviews as well as good ones. Decided to give it a try. I am very happy with this player.

Takes a couple of days to learn how to navigate within this player. The manual is really not as bad to use as others have stated in their reviews. Be sure to read and/or download the FAQ and the specific Mactinosh instructions from the Archos web page, and also download other software/firmware updates from Archos. You will need to download from Apple this firmware: iMac DV-ROM Update 1.0.

I clocked my USB transfer speed at 0.8 seconds per MB, or about 2 minutes to transfer 120 MB files to player. That's fast enough for me.

The player accepts mp3's I made with another program, so I did not use MusicMatch which is bundled with the player.

I set up my music by genres, e.g., Classical, Jazz, Hawaiian, then within these by title of CD album or other category for my miscellaneous web downloads.

I am enjoying my huge music collection immensely by having it all in one place. No hassle with CDs. I take player everywhere I go.

Haven't figured out how to set up a playlist yet. I don't really need one - my music is organized into folders which play through like a playlist (you can only play music within folders, one folder at a time, unless you make a playlist consisting of various songs from different folders).

The sound controls are terrific - 20 scales each for treble, bass, volume, etc., which you can set and change as desired. Also within playlist or folder you can play music in shuffle, single, repeat, etc.

The pouch included for the player is very poor. I purchased a small well padded camera bag with belt which is just right. The earphones are dismal. Get Sony feather weight ear phones for 10 bucks or less.

I got the Archos because I did not want to upgrade my OS to 9.2.2 or OS 10, which is what the iPod requires. Also, iPod is really expensive for what you get. The Archos is a terrific deal in terms of quality, ease of use and portability. I'm now sorry I didn't get the 20 Gig model. I may buy it too!

Out-of-the box experience
--------------------------
Very satisfactory...has everything to get u started in a jiffy...After charging the unit for the first time for about an hour, connected it to my laptop and within moments was listening to the first few tunes..NOT a single glitch in the first attempt :)

Portability
------------
Wow!! 10GB (approx 10,000 mins of data encoded at 128 kbps)... in one helluva compact body...initially felt a touch heavy but should get used to it easily

File Management/Transfer
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When connected to ur desktop/laptop thru the USB interface, the device will appear as an additional drive..u can simply drag and drop ur files to the device..and at USB transfer rates upto 1Mbps, be assured that moving files around is really fast..

Sound
------
this is easily the BEST attribute of this jukebox... Archos folks deserve a grammy for this one..(but don't expect great sound with the included headphones)

Batteries

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As promised, the 4-AA delivered enough juice for approx 9-9.5 hrs..darn good..A complete re-charge takes 4.5 hrs

Unit Design / Ergonomics
-------------------------
"Button" system needs to be re-designed
Battery cover - a touch difficult to remove, but again, just a matter of getting used to it..
LCD display - 8 line display (definitely satisfactory)

Other Features
---------------

Voice recording
----------------
fairly good although a touch extra sensitive, tends to pick up the minor whining noise of the hard drive; voice-activated recording feature could be a nice-to-have here...

Portable Hard drive
--------------------
is useful except that you will need to install the usb driver software on any machine that you need to connect your jukebox to..

Miscellaneous
--------------

HeadPhones - thy belong to the nearest trashbin. Use your Sony headphones pls

Instruction Manual - the least said, the better. Illustrations are totally messed up...surely, a 10 yr old can create a better manual..

MusicMatch software - did not install and don't plan to...

Memory buffer - expect this to be increased in future (currently 2Mb); this will improve the voice recording feature since the disk will spin less frequently, thereby reducing the noise content in the recorded messages...

Competition - the only competitor worth mentioning is the iPod, but a much lower price tag and some neat features like voice recording gives the archos jukebox an edge over the iPod (but i think its only a matter of time before Apple provides similar features)

Firmware - upgradeable from the archos site (definitely a nice thing)

THE Verdict
------------
If you want a jukebox now, get this one...but if you can wait, say, until the holiday season, i think the iPod will be the one to go for, since i expect a significant price drop then and the addition of comparable value features

After getting so fed up with the Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox awkward shape and the stupidly short battery life I returned it and bought this silver and blue baby.

The manual is full of spelling mistakes and errors, but its not THAT bad once you sit down and read it. Being able just to drag and drop files using Windows Explorer is a breath of fresh air compared to the Nomad's buggy Playcenter program. The Archos is full of neat features such as on-the-fly MP3 encoding (analogue or digital). It won't randomly shuffle files in different folders but I overcome that by making a new playlist daily to fit my mood. (naming it Today's Playlist). The MusicMatch program [stinks] but I use Winamp to make my playlists and its much easier than MusicMatch.

Archos seemed to have listened to people complaining about the early 6000's bad interface and bugs. Operation using the cursor keypad and the 3 F buttons is a breeze and the UP and DOWN cursor controls volume during playback.

So Far So Good its been reliable, soundquality is great and overall im happy. Ill keep you updated.

Watch This Space..........