MP3 HDD Players

There is also the Archos Digital Jukebox - there are various flavors and add-ons for this. I think the iPOD is sweetness, but this is an alternative.

-myrkat

I've used one of those. I much prefer the iPOD.

Oh iPOD how I love thee....

Don't we all just LOVE the iPod? I mean who can resist!

i have the archos multimedia 20. it is basically a 20 gig hard drive that you can play mp3's with. i liked this one because you can record with it and also store and view video and pictures on its lcd screen.

thenoser,

Do you have the USB or the Firewire? (or does it do both?) I've been keeping an eye (loosely) on this Jukebox 20 for some time, and am curious how it is in a few areas:

1) Navigation - how easy is it to get to a specific mp3 - say, while driving. The iPod is OK, but it is tough with so little input buttons/scroller. Plus, 20GB I can have over 10,000 songs, so it's not easy to scroll through an artist list of several hundred. How is the Archos for something like that?

2) Speed of sync/read/write. iPOD with Firewire is outstanding - just as fast as an external FW HD (iPOD basically is, but there's a database-overhead thing going on, too).

3) How are mp3's stored? The iPOD actually RENAMES them to numbers and puts them in directories "F01" thru "F19" or something odd. Part of it's anti-piracy thing. This causes it to keep a database of what songs are where. Is Archos similar?

Thanks,
-myrkat

hey myrkat,

i don't know why these were never more popular. maybe because of the archos name recognition (or lack of)? the only place in the so cal area i knew that carried it was best buy, and even then only for a short while. i think the original firmware had problems, but as long as you knew to download the new versions, everything worked fine. i'm not even sure you can still get the jukebox multimedia 20 (jbmm 20) anymore as archos came out with a new version (av120?) about a year after this one. options included a camera module to record video or pictures, cf or smart media card readers, an external microphone (it has a crappy one built in), and an fm radio.
i've never used the ipod, so i have no frame of reference for you.

as far as your questions:

1) i would discourage trying to navigate the menus while driving, i think applying makeup while driving may be easier. what i have done is to create subfolders (ie jazz, oldies, hip-hop, classic rock, etc) and selected the options for random play and within the specified directory. i also bought the digital video recorder module that has a remote control that i use in the car.

2) i got mine right before the usb 2.0 adapter was released, and never bothered to look for one since i only had the older usb on my computers. it does have firewire capability as an option. iirc, i initially transferred about 200 mp3's (all at 128k bit rate - around 800mb total) onto it and it took about 14 or 15 minutes . now that i have my 8890, i plan on looking for either the usb 2.0 or firewire cables.

3) the mp3's are stored just like they would be on a hard drive. you can rename them, copy them to different location, drag and drop between your computer and jbmm, etc. when it is connected to the computer, the jbmm is recognized as a mass storage device, not an mp3 player. any type of file can be loaded onto it. i imagine you could probably load an os onto it and run (slowly) from the jbmm. one cool thing i noticed after one of the firmware updates was that the album cover is displayed while the track is playing. i even played around with some freeware that allowed you to rip dvd's as divx, though i never had the time to get that totally working. i could never get the sound and video to synch properly. it does not have macrovision protection so you could use it like a vcr and record (mpeg4 in avi format) a full dvd onto it and then play it back on the built in display (something like 350 x 280?), or while hooked up to a tv. i've even heard of people hacking them to put in larger hard drives, though i would not consider doing something like that.

overall, i am happy with this unit. the sound quality is better than what i expected (i had low expectations), but not great. it is more than adequate for use in the car though. i have a head unit in the car that allows for direct connection via rca jacks and i would recommend that over those devices you can transmit via fm radio or cassette. my car had a 10 disc cd changer and the head unit can play mp3's on cd or cdrw - i rarely use either option since
i got the jbmm. in fact, the only time i use the cd palyer is when i buy a new cd and can't wait to get home to listen to it.

hope this sufficiently answered your questions,

steve


forgot to add that the battery life is decent, about 6 hours if played continuously.

try iRiver iHP-100 (10 gigs) or iHP-120 (20 gigs)

they're a bit pricey - but i think they give the ipod a run for its money, especially with the FM tuner built-in with recording

weight & dimensions r similar to an ipod

thenoser,

Thanks for the answers, they hit all the points I needed to know. The displaying of album art is nice, as I have most of my mp3's with artwork embedded.

Yeah, navigating my iPOD while driving isn't easy, and they do not have a playlist-on-demand sort of thing (like the newer ones do)... I might have to check out the Archos unit...

I'll also look for that iRiver device sid mentioned.

Thanks guys!
-myrkat

I've heard things about new competition for the iPod coming out within the next year. If you can wait, maybe you can see what they look like. They're supposed to be 1/2 the price of an iPod.

Question is, will it look as cool? =P

That's good advice, and I probably won't be ready to buy a replacement for another year (I bought my 20gb ver.2 iPOD in May '03, so it's pretty new still).

I was looking to pass it down to my wife and get me the new toy... That's how it is, you know?

-myrkat

I got a question for you all, you know how it is not wise to shake a hard drive? How is the hard drive in the mp3 players affected by shock? I just don't want to destroy it my jogging short distances or the such.

hey I can't believe nobody has mentioned the Rio Karma!

It's an awsome players and has many attributes that battle with an iPod anyday!
And now that it's owned by DNNA instead of sonicblue i think some good products may finally be seen from the rio brand.

Check out the support forum Riovolution

as well as M.Wiley's extensive IGN review

Just thought I'd give everyone another option!

--JR

Just in case anybody cares I have the Archos jukebox 20

And when I got it I almost returned it because the firmware stunk.

I wanted to rip my 500 CDs and make a playlist with everything and just let it run.
Something like 3800 songs long.

But the Archos maxed out at 999 songs even if you would load a bigger playlist it would only load 999.

So then I found this a new kinda firmware for the Archos called RockBox.

Since then they have pretty much improved all the features of all the Archos models.

Even wrote some simple games and stuff for it.

I got the Archos like a month before the IPOD came out and kicked myself but when I learned that the songs were all loaded thru Musicmatch (now ITunes) and you couldn't just move them around and use the drive anyway you want that made me stick with my Archos.

Also the Archos has removeable batteries the IPOD does not.
I heard if the batteries wear out you have to send it in for service. Yuck

Yeh i have a Creative Nomad Jukebox. Its a 10 gig model and i bought it because i didnt want to spend a crap loada money, but i didnt want to have to deal with CDs. so i picked this one from amazon for $150. i really like it, the only thing that is a little annoing is that its about the size of a CD player, but then again im not picky. Its a good choise. One thing i love about it is the EAX, its very very cool. Thats one of the reasons if i bought another one i would go with the Zen Xtra rather than the iPod.

I just got my Rio Karma.. honestly go check out the sites i mentioned above.. this thing really does kick ass.. smaller than the ipod, i think a better nav system and button layout and the Rio DJ feature is amazing. Now i know the ipod is sexy but for people who don't want to spend $400+ on an ipod but still want everything the ipod has going for it and more for less money then go for the Karma! I bought mine on Ebay for $250.. it's the 20 gig model.

--JR

My recommendation

RIO KARMA!!!
------------------------

Check out my review of the iPod and the Rio Karma - the winner is a BIG surprise...

Featured Review on headfi.org

I've got a Nomad3, and save its rather large size, and an incident with the first one's headphone jack falling out (covered by warranty from creative), i cant complain. I did kill its HDD a few weeks ago, but it takes standard laptop HDDs and can be easily opened, it even offers to format the drive for you the first time you turn it on. I think i put it through quite enough abuse to kill any HDD, its almost always attached to me (i have the pouch with a belt clip) even when when walking/sitting/running/falling off of things...
id ceartianly reccomend it to anyone looking for a HD based MP3 player, although if your not going to use the 4-channel outs, recording features, or firewire and USB interface, a Zen is probably a better idea.

iPod battery piece of **** ?

Does anybody can confirm this, is it true iPod battery may NOT be Replaced by their owner ? once it ends its life, you have to drop it to trash or send it to Apple with usd$150.00 to be replaced with a new battery ?

That USED to be true but it's not anymore. You can either purchase an extended warranty or service plan from Apple or purchase batteries from multiple click and mortar shops on the web....and it only takes about 5 minutes to swap out the batteries...

Buy batteries and installation instructions:

http://www.ipodbattery.com/