Reviews for Archos 6 GB Jukebox 6000 MP3 Player/Hard Drive

Archos 6 GB Jukebox 6000 MP3 Player/Hard Drive by Archos

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Digital camera reviews of Archos 6 GB Jukebox 6000 MP3 Player/Hard Drive

Digital camera Review: A letter to Archos support
Summary: 5 Stars

Well, initially I was under the impression that the Archos Jukebox 6000 needed specifically and only either MusichMatch or Real Player files according to what the people on the other side of the phone were telling me about their player. Then, out of curiosity, I simply copied over some of the SoundJam files I had pre-prepared in my hard-drive and created a new play list using the provided MusicMatch software. Low and behold, the player played the music just fine and in a row. You see reviews and the manufacturer say that A) This device supports Real Player and Music Match (unfortunately I have a thousand MP3s in SoundJam), and, B) No play list is possible from a Mac. But, your instruction booklet says you can create a play list for Macintosh on page 12 so I ignored what was told to me on the phone and it worked. At first the Jukebox seemed a little unwieldy for a Mac user that I am, but now it's just another hard-drive with vast capabilities for travel entertainment. By the way, I have only been working with MP3s for the past two weeks. I love the size of the Jukebox, it's portability, even though the headset, as other people have said in reviews, is not itself very good. Thank you for your reply to my e-mail. I'm glad I did not buy the Nomad. - Manuel Rivera-Ortiz

Digital camera Review: A month later (DOA, successful CPR ...)
Summary: 3 Stars

during the past month i bacame aware of two new issues, and a new 'plus' -

1. the AJB, using the original installed firmware does not support play resume at power on, a standard feature in 99% of all consumer CD and MD players. archos claims this has been fixed in their latest firmware update already available for download. (read more at the bottom of the review)

2. battery life, and battery gauge inconsistency - i have not scientificly tested it, nevertheless, my feeling is that the battery gauge is non-linear as well as inconsistent (over time), as a result it is really hard to tell when it will need to be recharged, and you could find youself with a mute player in the middle of the day if you do not keep the batteries almost fully charged when leaving home. since archos warns you from over-charging the batteries, and since the supplied charger is not a smart charger (see original review below), this is an even more annoying problem.

3. (+) the AJB neatly maps to windows explorer as a new hard drive (standard removable storage device class), copying songs *and other files* to and *from* the ajb is as simple as with any hard/floppy disk in your system. in Creative nomad, by comparison, the jukebox is *read protected*, and you cannot copy songs from the jukebox back to your desktop/notebook system.

also, the following URL (not mine) includes some usefull explanations about batteries installation i briefly described in my original review:

...

I am writing this three days after the unit has arrived. As the title suggests, it arrived non-functional - when I tried to turn the Jukebox 6000 on after a couple of hours of initial battery charge, what I got was a blinking backlight, and on-off spinning HD (I'd guess this could be what others on the net have referred to as 'damaged hard drive').

To be sure this was not a result of low battery voltage, I turned the jukebox off, and tried again after 6 hours - no change. To be extra-sure, I decided to remove the batteries and check their voltage - voltage was fine. After a couple of more battery removal / re-insertion cycles, the machine started to work, it turn out this was a loose contact issue.

Troubles aren't over yet - after listening to the pre-loaded music, I hooked the Jukebox to my PC, SW installation went smooth. Successful loading of few David Bowie albums, then - Huh! *blue screen* and 'Write error on drive E:' ...

It now works (after re-formatting the jukebox disk), I am still keeping my fingers AJB6K came with (what turned out to be) a set of spare NiMH batteries in the box. That's nice, but why couldn't the manual say so ? I had to fight the battery doors, almost breaking them, just to find out that one set of batteries was already installed.

Now to how these doors work - after you release the 'latch' as explained in the manual, you have to *pull* the covers towards you, a fine screwdriver is necessary. the manual does not explain this, and one may easily think that the doors hinge sideways - the force needed to break it isn't that great.

I have not tried to run it 8 hours straight yet, from how it baheved so far though, I see no reason to suspect it and cons:

(+) Great concept, does work after all.

(+) Compact.

(+) Good PC software suit.

(-) Flimsy construction, especially battery compartment.

(-) Awkward charging limitation: Archos warns you not to start chanring before batteries are completely discharged. Combined with the fact that batteries cannot be changed w/o a screwdriver, and, that normal alkaline batteries are prohibited, this is a big minus.

(-) Outdated, sparse documentation.

(*) Resume on power on: with most personal CD and MD players today, once powered off and on again, the player continues playing from the point is has reached when powered off last time. Not so in (my version - 4.53g) AJB. When powered on, the AJB song navigation always starts from the root directory, although quite annoying at times, Archos say that this is fixed in their latest firmware upate (5.01) which I have downloaded but not tried yet, Kudos to them if it works! (the ability to update firmware by simple USB connection is a considerable 'plus' by itself)

Digital camera Review: ARCHOS JUNK BOX,KEEP THE RECEIPT YOU WILL NEED IT.
Summary: 1 Stars

Digital camera Review: AWESOME
Summary: 5 Stars

Digital camera Review: Almost Perfect
Summary: 4 Stars

Pros: - 6GB storage: I stored 565 mp3 music files and 140 mp3 audio book files (20MB average) and still had 400 MB left. - Sound: After firmware upgrade, the sound is excellent, better than my Phillips eXpanium CD/MP3 player because I can change the bass and treble settings (can't do this on the eXpanium). - Can scroll forward and backwards through MP3s (Can't do this on eXpanium either) - ID3 tag support: shows the CD track number and song name, or the filename if no id3 tag. - M3u playlist support. - Upgradeable firmware (Thank you Archos). - Doubles as a hard drive: Drag and drop any file from explorer into Archos drive. - Rechargeable batteries that last 8 hours on average. - If you live on the edge you can upgrade the hardrive to 20MB (this will invalidate you warranty)

Cons: - Playlist chokes on lists of more than 30 or so songs - Shuffle does not quite shuffle correctly - No "Resume" function - No car kit, though it will work with any standard cassette kit (I don't know about the power, though)

If they fix the playlist and shuffle bugs this unit could be the killer.