The Best 6GB MP3 Player on the market (no longer the Creative Jukebox)
Written: Sep 21 '01
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Pros: Size; Battery-Life; Good Headphones; Easy to Download Songs to
Cons: Battery Door is Ridiculous to Open; Buttons questionable on durability; Instruction Manual is a joke
The Bottom Line: The Archos HD-MP3 gets 5 stars in my opinion because of its excellent size and portability, very good battery-life, good headphones, boots up quickly, and easy to use.
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| nickelzy's Full Review: Archos Jukebox Studio (20 GB) MP3 Player |
I wrote an article a few weeks ago on the Creative Nomad Jukebox. The Review Title at that time was "The Best 6GB MP3 Player on the market (so far). Well, so far has passed in time thanks to the NEW Archos HD-MP3. It is in my opinion better than the Creative Jukebox in just about every category that I was evaluating the MP3 players on. The purpose of this review is not only to give insight on the Archos HD-MP3 player, but to compare it to the Creative Jukebox as well. The reason for this is because anyone looking for a 6GB MP3 player will probably be choosing between these two. For that reason, let me help...
The categories below are what were the most important criteria for me in assessing which MP3 player I would buy.
SIZE
Hands down, Archos wins this one. The weight of the two units aren't that much different, but the Archos MP3 player is easier to fit in one's pocket. Not that you can't take the Creative Jukebox on the go, as I have done for the last couple of weeks, but Archos just makes it a little easier.
Battery-Life
Again, hands down the winner is Archos. The battery-life of Archos is about twice that of the Creative Jukebox.
Volume Capability
Too close to call. This was an important criteria because some MP3 players just aren't loud enough. I was happy to hear that both met my needs. Although I believe Archos was able to get a tad bit louder, it wasn't enough to give it higher marks.
Browsing Music and Playability
Questionable. The reason is say questionable is that while Creative really does make is a snap to find music either by Genre, Artist or Album the Archos can be set up so that one can access music very easily as well. With Archos, it all depends on how you set up your folders when you download the music. Creative does do a little better job in accessing music because you have the option not only to browse by Genre, you can also browse by artist or even by album. The reason I don't give the Creative the nod in this category is because the other piece that is important to me is when you are scrolling through your music and want to play a few songs. The thing I don't really like about Creative is that after you select to play a song, it takes you to the "active que list". A lot of the time, I don't want to go to the "active que list", I just want to keep viewing the music from the artist I was currently looking at. With the Archos, when you play a song, all you do is press the "browse" button and you go right back to where you just were. The bottom line is that both units do a good job in browsing and accessing music - there are a few minor differences, but not anything that would cause you to buy on MP3 player over the other. This category is a wash.
Booting Up Time; Headphones; FF/FR Scan; Downloading; Info
Archos gets the nod on all of the above. Booting Up Time - Archos takes about 11 seconds to boot up, Creative takes almost 30 seconds. Headphones - Archos Headphones are a little more comfortable and have a volume adjustment on the cord. FF/FR Scan - To fast forward or fast rewind a song, you can still hear the music with the Archos, where as the Creative you don't hear the music while you are fast forwarding. Downloading - The Creative Jukebox software actually is very good and makes it VERY easy to download music to the player. However, the reason that Archos gets the nod in this category is because there isn't any software that is needed. The beauty of this is that you can take the Archos and plug it into any computer that has USB support, and download tunes. The computer acknowledges Archos simply as another HD. Info - Archos gives a little more detailed info that I like on the unit. For example, it shows you not only the elapsed time of a song, but also the time remaining as well as the total time of the song. It also has a clock built into the unit that is useful from time to time.
Bottom Line
You won't go wrong if you select the Creative Jukebox. It's a terrific MP3 player and I've been very happy with it over the last couple of weeks using it. But if you want the smallest 6GB MP3 player on the market, twice the battery-life, better headphones, 1/3 the time to boot up every time you turn the unit on, and extras like a better FF/FR scan, more detailed info on the unit and an MP3 player that can be plugged into any computer without the need of installing proprietary software, then the Archos HD-MP3 player is the one for you.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 309
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Epinions.com ID:
nickelzy
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Member: Nick Elzy
Location: Carbondale, IL
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 1 member
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