Much better than solid state MP3 players
Written: Feb 08 '03 (Updated Feb 08 '03)
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Pros: Compact, inexpensive, software upgradeable
Cons: Relatively short battery life, Mechanical construction, standard software
The Bottom Line: Fairly cheap now and very versatile - what more can you ask? Mechanical construction not rock-solid, though.
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| european's Full Review: Archos Jukebox Studio (20 GB) MP3 Player |
I have owned the Archos 6000 player for close to 8 months now and I have made many comparisons with other players. I am also knee-deep in MiniDisc technology so I feel fairly confident that I can make a meaningful judgment.
If you do not want to read the full review: The Archos unit has many strengths and some weaknesses, but given the price this is an overall great buy. You can go upmarket with a similar unit of larger capacity or even further with the Archos Recorder (there is also a multimedia unit which however is constructed differently and therefore too far off topic). The Archos can store any form of data, which is an icing on the cake - not all MP3 players can do that out of the box. However, it will only play MP3 files.
This player contains a harddisk to store data.
Advantages of harddisk-based players over solid-state ones include:
- Capacity is huge by comparison
- Price (do not forget to include storage media in your calculation!)
Disdvantages of harddisk-based players include:
- Mechanical parts which may limit its use and/or lifetime (lifetime is usually not an issue - these units die by obsolescence)
- Considerably higher power consumption than solid-state units, thus limited battery life
- Harddisk operating noise which may bother you in very silent environments
- Higher operating temperature
- Larger and (typically much) heavier
Still, for me capacity at a reasonable price is a key issue.
1. Product
You get (may vary):
- Player
- Rechargeable batteries
- Charger
- Protective neoprene pouch
- Headphones
You do not get:
- USB cable
- really good headphones
2. Loading Material
To your host system, the Archos looks like an ordinary USB 1.x hard disk - and this is part of the strength of the product. It is very compatible and no special software whatsoever is required to transfer music to the player (as long as USB support is already there). Great if you visit a friend and want to grab a few files (be it music or other stuff). Any file and any file hierarchy can be created and you can use your favourite file sync utility.
Transfer performance is in-line with USB 1.x expectations and therefore nothing to write home about. Still, it is supported by almost all USB interfaces, which is nice. Note that the unit is a slave unit only, its USB port needs a computer (or other master unit) to function.
Capacity is 6 GB, which is a lot, if you think about it. If your set of frequently heard stuff exceeds 6 GB you have definitely more time on your hand than I do. If you want to keep *all* CDs you own (or *everything* you ever got from Napster, Gnutella and Kazaa combined) you definitely need an additional storage facility. This is sensible anyway, as a mobile unit can be damaged, lost or stolen and keeping your crown jewels on it is not smart at all.
3. MP3 Compatibility
This unit plays MP3 files only. You may consider this a shortcoming, but available processing power is limited.
I have tried the Archos with a wide range of MP3 formats and all constant-bit-rate (CBR) formats (these are the formats you typically would encounter on the net or get from a CD ripper) worked without exception.
The firmware I have has problems with a few variable-bitrate (VBR) files. As there seems to be no significant space savings in using VBR files and they take much longer to produce, I consider this a very minor point - you may disagree, if you like.
Playlists are supported and, although there is a size limit (999 entries, I have gathered from other sources), I have yet to produce a playlist coming even close to this number. At this point, the software does not allow creation of playlists on the unit itself; they must be constructed on a computer and downloaded to the Archos' harddisk.
ID2/3 tags are not used as far as I can say, the unit relies exclusively on the file names and the file contents. However, the presence of tags in the MP3 files do not cause any problems.
Again, due to limitations in processing power, other formats may never be supported, not even with updated software. There is no Audible.com compatibility, although it should be feasible. If Audible and their customers bother Archos long enough, support may be forthcoming.
4. Battery Life
This is a crucial point, as it limits the usefulness of the unit. I get battery life between 5-7 hours depending on the material (the material determines how often the internal harddisk must spin up and therefore battery life). It is rated at 8 hours.
This is ok in comparison with other harddisk-based players (including the most expensive currently on the market, the iPod). It is abysmal in comparison with solid-state MP3-players and the latest CD player models (over 100 hours playing time on a single charge - hard to believe... Such a player and 10 CDs may challenge the Archos player's capacity, but the size of a CD player and 10 disks exceeds that of the Archos player by far - and this is only the 6 GB unit, not the 20 GB one).
Recharging takes 6-8 hours which is quite a lot. No quick-charging is possible in the unit itself (would possibly overheat circuits and batteries).
Although the manual and various sites mention that you can change the batteries, this appears not to be feasibly to me. Believe me, the mechanical construction is not made to change batteries frequently, so do not plan on doing it unless very hard pressed. However, it is nice that the rechargeable batteries are standard AA parts and can be replaced with some effort, if they age. The unit typically comes with 1500 mAh capacity parts, which you could replace for higher capacity ones (2000 mAh are available now - a third more capacity for about $15 - haven't tried it yet, but I will, every minute counts). While it is mechanically possible to put in AA dry or alcaline batteries, it is discouraged due to the higher voltage they produce (6 V instead of 4.8 V) which may damage the unit.
The charging circuitry is basic and not software-controlled, so leaving the unit connected to the charger for long times (over 16 hours) heats up the batteries and I suspect it makes them suffer - reducing their life in the longer run.
A weak spot: The unit tends to behave quite erratically and odd, if the batteries are run down. So before you suspect a device malfunction, connect it to the mains and try again.
5. Mechanical Construction
This is the main weakness of the unit. The blue protective corners are ok, but the center-piece around the display and the battery covers are quite weak and not ideally constructed (the latests models of the same manufacturer are constructed differently - probably for exactly that reason). As I mentioned earlier, changing batteries on a day-to-day basis is not really feasible.
My unit has withstood a 5 foot-drop to a carpeted floor without any damage, but it was in its protective pouch at the time.
6. Sound
Sound is good but not on the top end. For technical reasons the low-end response is quite poor and increasing the bass setting may only cause an increase in distortion, depending on the material.
There is a line-out connection which does not share these weaknesses (no output amplifier). So when connecting the Archos to an external amplifier (external active speakers or HiFi equipment) the resulting sound is surprisingly good.
The original headphones (of wrap-around the ears and back of your head - type) are ok but better headphones give better result.
There is no remote-control, somewhat of a drawback.
7. Usability
The user interface is limited (display size, number of control elements = buttons). It is fairly functional, however, and all required tasks can be performed in an efficient manner after a short while, if your directory structure is sane. One drawback: The headphone volume can only be adjusted by holding one button down and pressing + or - for increased or decreased volume. Given that changing the volume level is the most frequent adjustment (remember the big knob on your stereo?), this is far from optimal. I solved the problem by using headphones with volume control.
The rest is fairly ok, and also the non-Archos software versions do not provide a vastly different (and thus vastly improved) alternative in this respect.
8. Modifications
The Archos is one of the units which can be modified quite heavily, both in terms of hardware and software.
Hardware modifications you may undertake include:
- Harddisk upgrade
- Memory upgrade
- Addition of a remote control
- Improvement of headphone sound
- Change of display lighing color
None of these modifications are for the light-hearted (the memory upgrade makes even hardware-savvy owners tremble). I have not tried any of these modifications and you undertake them on your own risk only as they will potentially reduce your Archos player to a paperweight (or maybe not even that). Needless to say, all modifications void your warranty. Instructions are available on the net.
There is at least one open software development effort (http://rockbox.haxx.se/) I am aware of. The current software is a bit better than the official software in many respects and is updated quite frequently. Updating software is very easy (just store the software file in the root of the harddisk and rename it to a "magic name"). I could always remove bad software using the USB port (seems to be very hardwired and so software does not really interfere with its operation), even though sometimes I had to wait until the batteries were depleted before I could restart with a new software version - minor quibble really. Nothing broke so far.
You may even write your own software given the tools provided but do not expect this to be particularly simple - lots of hardware fiddling must be expected. Still it is nice to see that you can extend the potential usefulness of the Archos player, if you really like to program (or if someone else does it).
9. Things *not* to do (and some things to do)
Even if it may seem common sensical to you, I still include this section, so you will get maximum enjoyment from the Archos player (no, I am not affiliated, I just happen to like it quite a lot, even if it is not unconditional).
Here are some hints:
- Do *not* load files of significant size without mains connection: The continuous spinning of the harddisk drains the batteries *much* faster and you may get a mid-transfer power-down. This is usually no good news for the integrity of the filesystem and may even cause complete loss of all data!
- Do *not* unplug the USB connection without proper removal from the operating system of the host computer. These days operating systems do not update the filesystem all the time, but store bits and pieces in memory because updating data there is much, much faster. So unplugging at the wrong time is usually no good news for the integrity of the filesystem and may even cause complete loss of all data! (Is this a deja vu?)
- Do *not* reformat the drive on anything else than FAT (*especially* not NTFS or anything else), if you still expect your player function to work properly.
- Do *not* drop the unit or exercise large amounts of pressure on its sides (could really break it badly)
- Do *not* dismantle it unless you are sure of what you are doing
- Do *not* use other mains adaptors unless you are sure of the right specifications (output voltage should remain under 10 Volts and polarity must be correct)
- Do *not* regret you did not get the recorder: The recording feature is definitely overrated (when was it the last time you recorded something live?!?) and the internernal microphones some recorders have are often unusable (they tend to pick up the noise of the harddisk, which is understandable - there *are* some limits in this world)
- *Do* run a filesystem check on the unit occasionally. After all it's just another filesystem that needs the odd check.
- *Do* be aware, that even this humble unit may be infected by viruses and you could spread such a virus happily from system to system. While this will not affect the unit itself (does not run a popular operating system), files could get corrupted (including the upgrade software file, leaving you with a stone-age firmware until replaced). The worst thing clearly is the distribution of viruses. So if you are paranoid, check the unit regularly. Even if you are not, you may want to make sure your virus checker software (you *do* have one, do you?!?) includes the Archos player as soon as it is connected to your system. You should check the player's contents, if you had the unit connected to a foreign machine and you cannot be absolutely certain that one was virus free (and when can you be, if the system is not under your administrative control).
- *Do* recharge, if the unit behaves oddly.
- *Do* be a bit patient. Transferring 1 GB over USB 1 is definitely a task for the patient.
- *Do* try to be a bit careful with the player. Apart from the display it is not unlike a laptop computer (contains harddisk, processor and memory, energy storage, user interface) and people typically treat their laptops with some care. If you treat the Archos with the same level of respect, you will not have any problems.
10. Comparison With Other Players
This is a difficult one, as matters of taste always factor in. There are currently about 10 other harddisk-based players available.
Here's the condensed version:
- Many other units offer more audio formats
- All other units are bigger, except for the highly expensive Apple iPod
- About 30% have better earphone sound quality (again, the Apple iPod scores best, but you must pay for the privilege)
- No other unit offers significantly better battery life
- So far only the iPod has a markedly better user interface, all other units are clumsy in one way or the other; I find the Archos fairly balanced in that respect
- Many units require special software to transfer files to the player (including the iPod this time), which I consider quite a drawback, especially in the non-Windows parts of the world. Only one or two other units allow storage of any data file you like.
Your mileage may vary, as they say, but I hope the information given here will allow you an informed decision.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 500
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Epinions.com ID:
european
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Location: Vienna, Austria, Europe
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 4 members
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