not as good as expected (Archos Jukebox Multimedia 20 20 GB)

Member Name: SHELLYJANEWALES

Product:	Archos Jukebox Multimedia 20 20 GB
Date:	09/08/03 (338 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: nice design, nice capasity

Disadvantages: bad headphones, no usb, not userfriendly

Media players with great storage capacity and with the possibility of playing a variety of file formats is not new. Creatives Jukebox, Archos and Apple iPod have all done it before.

Archos obviously decided to take it one step further, when developing the newest edition of their player, cause you can play DivX formatted movies on the Jukebox. DivX-movies can be found on a variety of file-sharing programs. The size of such a movie very often exceeds 600 MB.

The player is a bit smaller than similar products from other producers. It weighs 303 grams, which is lighter than the similar product from Creative, which weighs 338 grams. The Jukebox has got a small screen that dominates the front of the display. Below the screen you can find all of the necessary buttons you need to control the meny and the actual playing of files. On the sides you can attach the USB-cable to the audio and picture port, as well as the line-in port. The player has also got a port where you can attach extra equipment, like a digital camera.

The heart of Archos is a 20 GB harddrive. There you can save all kinds of files, and many of them can be played on the Jukebox. You can listen to MP3-music, look at pictures in JPG- or BMP-format, and play DivX-movies. You can also record sound, which is saved in MP3-format.

Before using the Jukebox, you have to install the software that`s included. Especially if you are planning on playing movies, then you have to install a converter, which converts DivX ti MPEG4, which the player can read.

The Jukebox pops up as a drive in Windows Explorer, and it is very easy to transfer files back and forth. The connection is limited to USB 1.1. You can buy extra modules that supports FireWire and USB 2.0, but it would be best if at least one of the technologies were built in.

As mentioned, you have to convert DivX-movies to MPEG4, this is time demanding. If you`re planning on converting a whole library to take wi
th you on a trip, you have to spend some time in front of the computer.

When you have transfered the files, you can just play them as you want. The music playing works great, and you can adjust the bass- and treble-level as you wish, including some other parameters. Unfortunately the headphones included with the Archos is not very good, and doesn`t let the player play to it`s full potential.

You can watch your DivX-movies on the built in screen, which of course is very limiting quality-wise. In return it is very easy to connect the player to a TV, through the included cable. And with the push of a button, you have a full-screen DivX-movie on the TV. The picture quality varies from the quality of the file itself. Nonetheless - it is very amusing to watch downloaded movies on a real TV, and thanks to the huge harddrive, you can bring tens of movies when going away.

This is a pretty good player, and I am at ease with the different possibilities you have. But there are some details which really drags down the impression.

First and foremost, the menu system is irritating - it doesn`t give you a good overview of things, and it is hard to use. It`s tricky going back to the main menu after executing different functions, and the response is not always satisfying.

Conclusion

The Archos Jukebox 20 is without doubt a funny little gadget, which gives a whole bunch of opportunities. Playing of DivX-movies is a most welcome new feature, and I hope more producers use this in their new products.

If it had been easier to use, this would be a superb player. As it is now, it is a very functional, but not really user friendly machine. The price is also nice! Considering what you get.

Summary: