Archos Jukebox Recorder (20 GB) MP3 Player

I have other reviews for various Archos products, check out my other reviews for the AV500, 504 160GB and 506 Wifi. This was the first product on the market with 20GB, and from this Archos has also put on the only products with 100GB,160GB,WiFi, and touchscreen capibilties. This is my review of the Jukebox Recorder 20GB.

Pros: 20GB= ~10,000 songs,Very strong and well built,Recording ability
Cons: Abit heavy, Ulgy design, Battery life,Only MP3s

Let's get down to business and get the skinny on this thing. Remember this is pre-iPods, as this came out in 2000. So I'll be fair and review this like it just came out back in its' day.

Storage
Ya, it can only play MP3 format, but that was the big fuss was back then. It can still STORE anything, movies, documents, other audio formatted songs, but can only play MP3.

Battery
I've been pretty harsh on Archos on all their newer products, because the battery life sucks, and this is no execption. For one, it's a battery hog eating up 4 AA batteries. You read that right 4. It's best to use recharable batteries like what the unit comes with,because your going to run out of juice in about 6 months if you fully recharge them over and over again.

Weight
It feels like it weighs about a pound. Overall I like this player for its compact size, fit and feel and many options. I would gladly go out and buy one. The only caveat is its heavy weight. Since the batteries and hard drive are all metal the unit is not really a pocket comfortable device. Sitting on top of the dashboard or in a bag ought to be good enough though.

Controls/Opitions
The opitions this thing has is great, you can change almost everything you see.Easy to use menu system, not confusing at all.

Durability
This thing is like a rock! I'm dead serious. I've dropped this thing from two story buildings, down a very long flight of steps, it even has a big dent on the side, and it works. For being simply a hard drive, it has very well made buffers to keep it from moving or getting damaged.

The best feature is the ability of the player to record MP3's in the field. Plug a mic in or any other audio source and you could record hours of songs or conversations in real time, without the need for a computer! This Jukebox is a bootleggers dream. Digital recording with 6Gigs of space is more than enough for any concert. Also hook it up to your stereo and record your CDs onto it for extra long road trips

The Archos Jukebox Recorder is an old piece of technology for its' time it was an unknown darkhorse of a product due to limited marketing in the US and it being a French company, so I suppose it did get it's share of the limelight over in the U.K. As I write this review, I can see this thing on the desk collecting dust because I haven't used it in years due to upgrading to Archos's other products; 504 160GB, but it makes for a nice paperweight.

I bought my first ( Jukebox Recorder 15) April 2001 for about $320. This unit is well built, sturdy, and simple to use. I could have bought an IPOD at the time but they looked ( and still do/are)so fragile and child's toy like. It lived up to what it advertised, being able to store an entire CD collection in the palm of your hand, 30 650MB data CD's or 320 Audio CDs compressed into MP3 format at the then standard of 192Kb/s. It also was designed with the computer IT Guy in mind, portable USB 1.1( Recorder 15 & Up are USB 2.0) storage in your pocket.

THE PROs
I work in a warehouse, constantly picking up large objects, figuring this I'll say : Sturdy build, stays in my shirt pocket without any restraints. Survived several drops to the concrete floor, getting crushed between mu chest and the load I pick up, 7 years later the drive died, not too bad considering the application ( IPOD would'nt survive this abuse). Without doing anything special the unit will support a 32.75 GB drive, the limit of formatting using FAT32.This Archos family (Studio 5,10,15,20, Recorder 5,10,15,20, FM Recorder,5,10,15,20,) benefits from economical parts replacements available easily , It uses 4 standard NIMH or NICAD AA rechargeable Batteries NAY capacity, bigger the better(DO NOT EVER use Alkaline ,Heavy Duty, Carbon/Zinc, or ANY battery type that exceeds 1.3V/ cell as the unit is designed for NO MORE than 5.1VDC.Exceeding this rating will overheat and eventually destroy sensitive electronic components!), easy to find 9.5mm ( The Thin Ones, 1/4" thick that is)ATA Hard drive of any capacity as long as the FIRST partition is formatted as FAT32, originally equipped with a 5V 500 mA drive, 1A drives CAN be used but take more power on SPINUP reducing battery life by 40%.

THE CONS

The units are quite heavy, about 12 ounces loaded with batteries. Run times vary with the file size of the music since the drive only spins up to cache the fileinto memory (2MB). I get about 12 hours with my music averaging 3.5MB/ file.

I like items that do not resrict me.I can replace the batteries with standard AA batteries if I get in a bind. The OS can be replaced with RockBox. I would suggest everyone replace the OS. The player can be upgraded to 200Gb by replacing the standard laptop hard-drive. The music is clear and the thing was meant to withstand a beating.

Archos could have made this device better but chose not to upgrade the firmware luckily a group of mp3 users hacked the firmware and made their own which made this device very very useful and expanded lots of features. I only wish the hardware were a little more durable...never replace the batteries in this it will break the solder joints.

Had one of these for 4 years and used it heavily.

No problems at all.

Like other reviewers, I recommend the RockBox OS.

Battery life has got better over time since each new set of NiMH cells I buy (as the old ones get tired) has better chemistry and more capacity. Maybe 15 hours on new 2600 mAh cells

Not nearly as sexy as the latest iPods but does what it says on the tin.

Even with normal usage, this device will not last 1 year.

I bought this product about a year ago and have had nothing but problems. It seemed like a good idea at the time because it was priced cheaper than most other mp3 players and had a fm recorder function. I bought it so that I could tape long radio programs in mp3 form.

The problems began right away. The radio function was pretty weak. When recording off the radio there would be excessive amounts of static. This would happen regardless of the station or power of the signal. I worked with all the functions of the device to correct this without luck. The voice recorder had similar problems when I attempted to use it. There was always static and the sound of the hard drive spinning was many times louder than the recorded voice.

All this aside, I decided not to return the device because it did play mp3s properly and did everything else I needed it to... About 6 months passed before the device began to completly fail. While playing music, the jukebox would either completely freeze up and crash or shutdown completly without warning. This happened so frequently that it was barely useable.

I contacted Archos support and sent the device back for an RMA. They returned it to me supposedly "fixed" but it was still broken. I contacted support again, and sent it in a second time for an RMA. (They were nice enough this time to pay for shipping) For a second time they returned the device to me broken. I was very upset at this point. The third time I returned the device they replaced it with a new jukebox.

That was 7 months ago. The hardware still functions normally but the headphone jack no longer works. Since it has been a year, there is no longer a warrenty and I will have to pay for repairs if I return it to archos.

I also have a friend who has had similar problems. I should have spent the extra money for an ipod.