Home > Consumer Reviews > Archos 20 GB USB 2.0 MP3 Jukebox/Recorder/ FM Radio

I've had this player for just about a year. Some of the complaints posted are valid such as extremely poor customer service and battery life. Customer service is an issue I can't solve, but if you replace the batteries with NiMH rechargables (Radio Shack has great ones...), the battery life issues and some of the playback issues noted in other reviews will disappear.

You do need some computer skills to use the player (the instruction manual is useless), but almost everything can be done through "drag and drop", really quite easy.

Overall, good player for the money.

The unit isn't perfect but it gets the job done. I've had the Archos for over a year and always get at least 7 hours out of a charge.
There were some issue with the included operating system, but since the Archos is an Open platform, you can install a 3rd party OS. I am using the Rockbox interface and it is great, no lockups, longer playlist, a bunch of extra features and settings.
The instruction manual is bad and the layout of the controls is a little clunky, so if you are looking for something simple to use you may want to stay away. However, if you have a little tech-savy and are patient enought to spend a little time getting to know the product, this is a great little gadget.
I've used an iPod, which is a superior product overall, but it's not worth the differnce in price.
I mainly use this product with a tape play adapter in the car and it has never let me down.

i think this is better than the ipod. it's cheaper - the only difference is it's a big bigger and heavier. and that it has much better headphones than ipod.

To be honest, I actually like the product. Great sound, nice features, fairly easy to use, however this unit does seem to be a little "buggy", some of the features dont work as explained in the users guide. If I were to do it over again I may have gone with the ipod. This company (archos) has what seems to be a 4 person operation here in the US. I called to order the multi voltage adapter for use in europe, and the representative I spoke to had no clue what this was. After being put on hold for another 10 minutes she came back with a little more understanding, but no part number. I also have a fairly simple technical question and left an e-mail 1 week ago with no reply. I've given up. If you want to save money and are willing to take a chance on what is really a nice product than this is for you, just understand that once you buy it you are on your own!
Oh ya, the batteries only last about 3-4 hours, the literature states up to 12 hours.

This product is a really good idea, but a bad product. Two things have made this a bad product.

1. Horrible battery life. I travel 1 1/2 hrs to work ea. day. I I love music. Before my round trip commute is over usually the battery is dead. I charge it each night for over 5 hours. Doesn't help. I try not to touch too many buttons or replay the same part in a song too many times or even fast foward. Doesn't help.

2. Random shutdowns...by this I mean the unit at random times just shuts down while in the middle of a track. Each time you boot up you use more battery life. If I have 5 random shutdowns during my commute, I will run out of battery life by the completion of my round trip commute.

It's really sad because this box has excellent sound quality and I luv the FM tuner, and it's easy to transfer music, but I cannot live being a slave to what I use on this product. I think I may have to bow out and purchase an Ipod.

PS. Tech support took 3 days to email me a reply regarding my issues only to tell me to call them on there pay number. Doesn't sound like much thought has been put into Tech support.