Someone finally got it right...
Written: Feb 27 '01 (Updated Mar 10 '01)
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Pros: Storage space, Size, Price, Functionality, Durability, Support
Cons: Storage space (it's never quite enough, is it?), High bit rate files
The Bottom Line: This is (in my opinion) the best portable MP3 player on the market today.
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| antjenkins's Full Review: Archos Jukebox Studio (20 GB) MP3 Player |
Remember in The Matrix, when Neo watches Morpheus jump across the building and says "Whoa!"?
That's how I felt when I found the Archos Jukebox 6000.
The Archos is the FOURTH portable MP3 player I've owned since mid 1998. At first, of course...they were great, but it didn't take long before realizing that 32 or even 64 megabytes just isn't enough. I've kept my eye on the market, and I started to drool when the hard drive based units became available, but they were WAY too expensive. I tried an MP3 CD player, but it was just too much trouble. That's when I saw the Archos JB6000.
This unit shows that SOMEONE is listening. Archos has finally provided a portable player with most, if not all, the features for which everyone has been clamoring, at a price that falls well below EVERY OTHER PLAYER IN ITS CLASS!
In fact, at $350.00, the JB6000 is cheaper than several of the flash memory based players with ugly navigation and limited storage space.
The JB6000 provides you with 6 GB (that's about 1500 songs!), allowing you to finally carry with you every MP3 you own, unless you decide to rip your entire CD collection. I had so much space I started doing just that, and got about half done before I started noticing the free space diminishing significantly. Right now, I've got over 1300 songs, and I've STILL got about 500 MB to go before I run out of room. Even with all this, the 6000 is smaller than all the other hard-drive based units I've seen (Creative, Hango, etc...). It's only abount six inches by three inches by one inch, and it only weighs 12 ounces.
This unit has it all. It comes with rechargeable NiMH batteries (last 6-8 hours per charge), it can be used as a standard hard drive (so you can store and transport ANY file), there's no proprietary software to transfer the MP3s and you can pull them right back off the Jukebox onto your computer. It even plays pretty much any bitrate including variable bitrate files (though some users have expressed concern over performance with bitrates over 192). Archos is even working on WMA support for the player (but since it doesn't have a built in clock, that could run into snafus from the Microsoft licensing team).
You can even upgrade the unit to 20GB (this is not sanctioned by Archos, and doing so will void the warranty). FunMP3Players.com will perform the upgrade for you (if you buy the unit from them) and give their own 30 day warranty to replace the Archos warranty, or you can get the instructions for doing it yourself from the same site.
If you're worried about support, don't be. Archos seems to be a very customer oriented company. One of their tech support staff can even be found on MP3.com answering user's questions about the Jukebox (he does this on his own...not technically for the company). In the Jukebox's short history, Archos has already released at least SEVEN firmware upgrades, fixing various problems and addressing several issues reported by customers. Archos has also taken a fairly liberal replacement policy for some of the early units that had some hardware limitations.
For those of you who feel the need to do that "active lifestyle" thing, don't be put off by the JukeBox's reliance on a hard drive over the solid state construction of the flash memory units. From personal experience, I have only heard the unit skip once. I've even heard of people jogging without any real problems (of course, that's legally considered hearsay).
As to it's durability, all I can say is I've dropped the unit from about three feet when the cord got caught on a doorknob and it was ripped from my hand. It went into a flat spin, bounced off a metal handrail and landed on a concrete stairwell landing. The unit doesn't seem any the worse for wear because of it, except for a slight dent around the headphone jack. I can't say if it skipped or not, since the headphones got pulled off my head in the fall. I'm not advocating its use in a crash up derby, but it's nice to know that it didn't smash into twenty pieces under those [fairly extreme] conditions.
Of course, even great things have detractors. Fortunately, I haven't found any of the complaints valid (in my mind). Several users have complained about the difficulty replacing the batteries, but THE BATTERIES ARE RECHARGEABLE! Under normal circumstances, you shouldn't be changing them anyway. Others have complained about the need to drill down into a menu to change the volume (and I'll agree that it was pretty silly to design it this way in the first place), but Archos has updated the firmware so that you can change the volume by holding the On button down while pressing + or -, making it a two finger operation. Others complain that it isn't very solid (I very much disagree, per my experience on the stairwell and the solid twelve ounce weight fit into this small package). Lastly, the final common complaint that I've seen is sound quality. Personally, I don't have any problem with the sound quality, unless I turn it up to 14 or 15 (the highest settings). It has a bass and treble control, though I advise keeping it near flat, rather than using one to offset the other. Personally, I keep the bass set at +2 and treble at +1 (of +-5). Unfortunately, it's not a very loud unit, so some may want to push the volume that high. All I can say to this is, try turning your home stereo all the way up some time...you'll probably notice the sound quality isn't all that great, either (especially once you've blown your speakers).
Overall, I can't sing the praises for this unit enough. The best I can do is urge you to run out and buy one, before Archos comes to their senses and starts charging what the player is REALLY worth.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 314.99
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Epinions.com ID:
antjenkins
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Member: Anthony Jenkins
Location: Nashville, TN
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Stay-At-Home Dad, "gadget geek".
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