I tried the Archos Jukebox for a couple of days. The concept is certainly impressive but I'm afraid the machine was disappointing.
Firstly the battery consumption was mad - a couple of hours - I know this can improve after a few charge/discharge cycles but still not up to any of the other portable audio equipment I own.
The sound quality through the headphone socket was poor for the price. Admittedly through an Airhead and Etymotic combo the sound was as good as source, I would expect the unit to perform as good as my Sony D-915 and Panasonic 570.
I really felt that the unit couldn't withstand abuse. I felt that one drop and that would be it. In all fairness it peformed perfectly well with no glitches whilst I had it but it would have been nice if it was a little lighter and had more storage capacity (6gb).
I must admit, even taking these issues into account I was tempted. Although I'm pleased with the Iriver2 it would be cool to be able to take virtually my entire CD collection (well perhaps 1/3 of it anyway) with me wherever I go. I think I'll wait though - I can't help thinking that just around the corner there's a PC compliant Ipod clone out there just waiting to be sold. (Hopefully with a 50gb HD in it!).
Firstly the battery consumption was mad - a couple of hours - I know this can improve after a few charge/discharge cycles but still not up to any of the other portable audio equipment I own.
The sound quality through the headphone socket was poor for the price. Admittedly through an Airhead and Etymotic combo the sound was as good as source, I would expect the unit to perform as good as my Sony D-915 and Panasonic 570.
I really felt that the unit couldn't withstand abuse. I felt that one drop and that would be it. In all fairness it peformed perfectly well with no glitches whilst I had it but it would have been nice if it was a little lighter and had more storage capacity (6gb).
I must admit, even taking these issues into account I was tempted. Although I'm pleased with the Iriver2 it would be cool to be able to take virtually my entire CD collection (well perhaps 1/3 of it anyway) with me wherever I go. I think I'll wait though - I can't help thinking that just around the corner there's a PC compliant Ipod clone out there just waiting to be sold. (Hopefully with a 50gb HD in it!).
