Only a few problems separate this device from true greatness
Written: Nov 23 '02 (Updated May 18 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Portability: |
 |
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
|
Pros: Massive storage! Decent battery life. Good sound. Inexpensive compared to others.
Cons: Tech support nonexistent. Slow FF/Rew. Cheap headphones. Reliability suspect.
The Bottom Line: If you like music, and lots of it, large capacity mp3 players like this Archos are the way to go.
|
|
|
| derek_g's Full Review: Archos Jukebox Studio (20 GB) MP3 Player |
This was 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. I've owned it for over a year now and it still runs strong. However, this unit has received a number of complaints about breaking down. This is the only time I've paid up for those normally overpriced extended warranties and it might be money well spent.
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.
10) Battery life is fine. I haven't specifically tested how long it lasts, but I can listen to it on and off all day without running the batteries down. Usually can get three days out of it. When it gets low, I plug it in the AC charger when I go to bed and it's ready to go when I wake up.
Minor Gripes:
1) Would've liked to have seen a car kit included. $50 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. Is it me, or is that just dumb? 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. Apparently all the mp3 players do this, but you would think they could eliminate this somehow.
4) Player does display entire song title, but slowly. Would be nice to be able to adjust the scroll 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 as well as other options.
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 the light 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) No "resume" capability. 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. Numerous follow-up questions have also been avoided.
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 others. I'm a music nut and my tastes change all the time so it's nice not to have to worry about what I want to listen to as I can fit it all right here. Since it's been around for a while, at least as far as high-tech electronics are concerned, the price has come down considerably. For the price, it's hard to beat.
The negatives are the godawful tech support (there isn't any), the spongy buttons (improved in newer versions), and the reliability problems. It seems if you're "lucky" enough to get a good player you'll be happy but plan on playing the exchange game.
The only items that can top these hard-drive based players are the flash memory type players like the Muvo and similar devices. However, right now the storage capacity is woefully inadequate. Until they come out with 6 gig memory players, I say these are the way to go.
Hope this review helps you in your decision.
5/15/03 update - Think I've had this about two years now. It's starting to act a little quirky. Sometimes I'll get hard disk errors, other times I'll start it up and the whole LCD screen will light up but won't display anything unless I turn it off and back on. I may be putting the extended warranty to use soon (if I can find it...)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 375
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
derek_g
|
|
Member: Derek G
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
My butt itches
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.