Archos 20 GB USB 2.0 MP3 Jukebox Recorder $124.88 after mail in rebate.

[crazycooljacko]

Available at www.amazon.com

Features:

20 GB hard drive, with up to 300 hours of music and/or data
USB 2.0 interface, USB 1.1 compatible
Record audio from any audio source
Rechargeable NiMH batteries with 10 hours of playtime included
Compatible with 98SE, Me, 2000, XP, or Mac OS 9.2 or X

 

[bradolson]

Linked

 

[Conky]

Is this thing any good?

 

[gherald]

at 3 pounds, it weighs more than my roomate's notebook.

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: gherald
at 3 pounds, it weighs more than my roomate's notebook.

Three pounds is the MP3 player, box, manual, AC adapter, software, etc. That's why it's called shipping weight.

This is an OK player. The older model is superior, however. This has a fixed battery pack, a la iPod, and a mask (non-flashable) ROM. The older model had flash ROM and AA NiMH batteries.

Flash ROM is good as Rockbox is far superior to Archos's firmware.

 

[gherald]

Oh sorry, I didn't look. See my roomate was looking for a cheap MP3 player a couple weeks ago, and he joked about this one being a couple onces heavier than his VAIO.

It still is fairly heavy though.. 2x as much as an Ipod?

 

[VaG]

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
Is this thing any good?

No.

 

[WHipLAsh13]

Originally posted by: VaG

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
Is this thing any good?

No.

ok care to elaborate. This seems like a real good deal. I have seen some of their earlier players and they were decent but I haven't heard anything recently about them.

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: gherald
It still is fairly heavy though.. 2x as much as an Ipod?

I'd say the old model (Which I've got) is about twice the weight of a 40GB iPod... Which isn't suprising considering the Jukebox uses a bog-standard 2.5" notebook HD.

The Archos isn't as svelte and sleek as the iPod, but especially the older models will last a lot longer and most of the parts that will die (HD, batteries) are replacable.

I own both. Both have their uses. Which one is better, I'd have to say depends on whether or not you use iTunes.

 

[metalmania]

AND you can take out the hard disk, replace with a 40G HD.

 

[gherald]

I was thinking about that. You could, for example, buy an otherwise good laptop that only comes with a 40gb 4200RPM drive. Then buy a 60gb 7200RPM travelstar, and put in in the laptop, and move the 40 to your mp3 player

 

[bman46]

GREAT deal!

 

[gwynethgh]

So how can we tell this one does not have flash ROM?


snip


This is an OK player. The older model is superior, however. This has a fixed battery pack, a la iPod, and a mask (non-flashable) ROM. The older model had flash ROM and AA NiMH batteries.

Flash ROM is good as Rockbox is far superior to Archos's firmware.[/quote]

 

[vroom1810]

I just got this and have been doing ongoing research on it. The battery CAN be replaced, if needed. I've had a terrible time getting this thing recognized on my pc. I finally got it recognized after many hours of trying different things. Seems you need the Cyprus drivers....and then it may not work. Many people do not have this problem and i'm not sure why i do since i do have XP home with all updates. Once i finally got it recognized by the pc the mp3 files i transfered would play a few seconds then become corrupted and not play....just screeching. I re-downloaded them and still the same. So, later tonight i will see if the unit is still recognized by the pc and if i can figure out why the files tranferred to it are corrupted.....they play fine on the cdr and pc folders i have them in. robert

 

[taehyongkim]

People have been finding it in their Goldbox - which knocks ~$30 off the price. And there's now a $5 price reduction ...

 

[vroom1810]

i believe the price crazycooljacko posts includes the $5 pricedrop. I got the unit in my goldbox so that's when i ordered it....just emailed them to get a credit to the AE card. You can also get either $25 or $30 additional off for signing up for an Amazon credit card, but i don't think the gold card box will work until you make at least one purchase from Amazon (sign up for their card after you make 1 purchase). robert

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: gwynethgh
So how can we tell this one does not have flash ROM?

None of this model does. Only the older, brick-shaped Recorder 20 has a flash ROM, and even then some don't.

 

[taehyongkim]

Originally posted by: vroom1810
i believe the price crazycooljacko posts includes the $5 pricedrop. I got the unit in my goldbox so that's when i ordered it....just emailed them to get a credit to the AE card. You can also get either $25 or $30 additional off for signing up for an Amazon credit card, but i don't think the gold card box will work until you make at least one purchase from Amazon (sign up for their card after you make 1 purchase). robert

179 - 50MIR - 29GB - 5PD = 95 shipped for me. Awesome.

 

[dc]

wait, you can't put rockbox on this player?

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: dc
wait, you can't put rockbox on this player?

OK, here's a primer on how Archos Jukeboxes work: The Archos firmware will look on the HD for a file named abjrec.ajz or something like that. Utilizing that, any Jukebox can run Rockbox. Problem is that the Archos firmware is dog slow for turning on. Some Jukeboxes have flash ROM and can have Rockbox overwrite the Archos firmware, significantly cutting boot times.

The Archos firmware takes 5-7 seconds to turn on. Rockbox (from flash) is nearly instant. That's the only real advantage to flashing Rockbox, as I metioned above you can 'warm-boot' into Rockbox.

 

[dc]

ah, ok. thanks for the info

 

[FatAlbo]

I saw this in my Goldbox last week and jumped on the deal. First time I've seen anything worthwhile in there.

Here are my experiences:
I plugged the USB cable from my computer to the Jukebox and it came up as a USB mass storage device (XP Pro, SP1). I copied the Rockbox files to the Jukebox and flashed it with the firmware flash utility supplied by the Rockbox devs/contributers. Rockbox boot > Archos firmware boot.

 

[solariumrider]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: gherald
at 3 pounds, it weighs more than my roomate's notebook.

Three pounds is the MP3 player, box, manual, AC adapter, software, etc. That's why it's called shipping weight.

This is an OK player. The older model is superior, however. This has a fixed battery pack, a la iPod, and a mask (non-flashable) ROM. The older model had flash ROM and AA NiMH batteries.

Flash ROM is good as Rockbox is far superior to Archos's firmware.

...Actually weight is 10.3 ounces. Other useful info:

Technical Specifications

• Capacity: 20 GB Hard Drive (20000 minutes MP3 music at 128 kbps)
• Internal Buffer: 2MB
• Interface to computer: USB 2.0 (PC and Mac)
• Format supported: MP3 (30 to 320 kbps ? VBR) Reading, MP3 (selectable 30 to 160 kbps) real-time encoding.
• Display: Graphic backlit LCD (8 lines of text)
• Audio: Stereo SPDIF-In/Out, Stereo Analog Line In, Stereo Analog Line Out/Earphone Jack. Signal to noise ratio > 90 dB. Max. Output power: 100 mW Freq. Response 20 Hz ? 20 KHz. Harmonic distortion: < 0.1% Internal microphone.
• Playback autonomy: Up to 10 hours.
• Software scalability: Downloadable fi rmware updates from ARCHOS web site. www.archos.com
• Power Source: Internal Power: fl at Lithium-Ion battery. (ARCHOS type only). This battery will last for the life of the product (need not be changed). External Power: use only the AC/DC Charger/Adapter delivered with product.
• Dimensions: 112 x 81 x 29 mm (4.5? x 3.2? x 1.3?)
• Weight: 300 g (10.7 oz)
• System requirements:
  • PC: Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP Pentium II 266MHz with 64MB ram
  • Mac: OS 9.2 or greater & Mac 10.2.4 or greater USB Manager version 1.2 or higher

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: FatAlbo

I plugged the USB cable from my computer to the Jukebox and it came up as a USB mass storage device (XP Pro, SP1). I copied the Rockbox files to the Jukebox and flashed it with the firmware flash utility supplied by the Rockbox devs/contributers. Rockbox boot > Archos firmware boot.

Wait a second, your SE (That's what this model is) was flashable??? That's a very interesting development.

 

[Gorby911]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: gwynethgh
So how can we tell this one does not have flash ROM?

None of this model does. Only the older, brick-shaped Recorder 20 has a flash ROM, and even then some don't.

This information is incorrect. I havd this player for a month now, I flashed the ROM completely with Rockbox the first day I got it and reflashed it several times after that to try different builds of Rockbox. I know for a fact several other people who flashed it with no problems at all so this unit is flashable. The difference between this model and the older ones is that it does not have FM module (in older it could be just disabled and you could use Rockbox toenable it) and the battery is indeed built-in but could be replaced if necessary.