Archos experience
I am too a computer journalist. I was also fooled by the Archos spec and bought one of their jukeboxes about 18 months ago. My brother and a friend also bought one at roughly the same time. We have between us 3 different models, 6GB, 20GB and 6GB with recording. We also use different computers, a desktop G4, a Powerbook and a Compaq PC.
Here's our collective conclusion:
First and most important! The sound quality is poor when compared to a Sony MiniDisc and an iPod. The bass end is soft and blurry, the top end is lacking. Don't tell me about EQ - I used to be a sound engineer, I know how to use an EQ. It doesn't help! The Archos boxes sound cloudy and muffled.
They are all unreliable, they switch off for no reason while playing. The longest I had mine running without stopping was less than 2 hours. Most times it would switch off within 20 minutes.
They are very slow, the interface is terrible and finding a song you want to listen to is tedious.
The batteries are terrible lasting less than an hour after a few months of use.
The build quality is poor. The shiny controls start peeling off within a few weeks of use, revealing a cheap grey plastic.
They are simply too big for their purpose. Using a larger 2.5" drive is also the reason they are cheaper.
USB 1.1 is not a practical solution for 20GB in my opinion. I know they say that Firewire and USB2 option will be available, but my Archos experience with drivers has been poor too.
Their support in my experience was useless.
They took ages to support OS X and the drivers for 9 were unreliable, disconnecting from my Mac when copying many files.
There's a happy end to this story - we all own iPods now.
