last update: March 6, 2002

Twenty-five years ago, who would have thought that I'd be carrying a 6GB hard drive around in my pocket? Back in 1976, when I first got involved with computers, the data I was working with (Arbitron and Nielsen ratings for prime time television) occupied 48 five-megabyte tapes. The drive operator used to hate it when I came in to perform a statistical analysis on the big CDC 6600, since SPSS swapped data in and out of the CPU a meager 16KB (yes, kilobyte) at a time, causing him to load and reload tapes, and load and reload five-megabyte disk platters used to hold the swap file. By the time my job had finished, the poor fellow had loaded and unloaded tapes and disks hundreds of times.

The story has a point: with my Rio MP3 player, I feel a bit like that poor drive operator. Every time I want to listen to a different set of tunes, I have to swap a new set of files into the Rio's 64MBs of memory. Sure, USB is reasonably fast. But who wants to spend time manually loading songs every time you want to listen to them?

The Jukebox 6000 is slightly smaller in size than a Palm IIIc, only twice as thick.

Which brings me around to this month's gadget. While looking for a portable storage solution for my digital camera, I came across the Archos Jukebox 6000. Because my Mac portable is an older G3, it has a fairly small hard disk drive. Now that I'm shooting mostly digital photography, I find my Mac's hard disk filled with software and images. What I needed was an add-on drive to handle the overflow while I was traveling.

On one of my searches, I came across the Archos 6GB drive. Here was a US$250 (I got it for about 20% less through a one-time deal at Amazon.com, so search around) device that promised to be two interesting devices.

First and foremost, it's a battery-powered, USB-based hard disk drive. Plug it into the USB port of your Mac or Windows-based machine, and another drive shows up on your desktop. (Archos provides drivers and other software for both platforms.)

But drag MP3 files to the Jukebox 6000 and suddenly you have a very brawny MP3 player. Would you believe that, when filled with MP3s, you could listen for four days straight without hearing anything twice?

Besides the low price, it seemed that I could use this device in both its modes while traveling: load the 6MBs up with MP3s and listen to them while traveling, then, as I fill up CompactFlash cards from my digital camera, erase enough MP3 files to make room for the photos. By the end of the trip, I wouldn't have much in the way of MP3s left, but all my photos would have a home. Sounded like a plan.

The full package:

• Jukebox 6000
• AC adapter
• Very short USB cable
• Wrap around Headphones
• Manual
• CD-ROM with drivers and MusicMatch software for Mac and Windows
• Neoprene carrying case
• Two sets of 1500mAh Nimh batteries

Optional:

• remote control

Size: 4.5 x 3.2 x 1.3" (115 x 82 x 34mm)

Weight: 12 ounces (290g)

The Good

As a hard drive, the Archos works as expected, and with more speed than I believed possible from a USB disk. The drive is very quiet (you won't know its running unless you hold the case and feel the very slight vibration as the platter begins rotating). Both my Mac and Windows machines recognize it without problem. Norton Utilities sees the drive and can run its checks and fixes on it, too. All good things.

On the music side, the sound is quite good, with a clarity and openness that's a little better than my Rio 500. The Jukebox 6000 has both Headphone and Line Out jacks, another nice touch. (It also has a Line In jack, but how you use it is somewhat perplexing, as the unit doesn't record audio. I suppose it's an audio pass-through.) MusicMatch software is supplied for both Mac and Windows, arguably one of the best choices for ripping and organizing your MP3s. You can adjust the bass and treble response of the unit, though the standard sound is quite good. With my good Sony headphones, the Jukebox 6000 rocks just fine with no treble or bass boost.

Along with the wall wart AC source, Archos supplies two sets of Nimh rechargeable batteries, which last as much as 10 hours in MP3 mode, but far less when using the unit as a hard disk drive.

The unit has a solid, metal feel to it (with blue rubber bumpers at the corners), and the look of the unit is modern and appears functional at first glance (more on that in a moment). I wouldn't want to drop the Jukebox 6000, but with a couple of small exceptions, it seems like it should stand up to reasonably rough travel use (especially if you keep it in its supplied neoprene case most of the time).

For you international folk, the Archos can display in English, Francais, Deutsch, Espanol, y Italiano. The manual comes in those flavors, too, though I was amused to find that "Jukebox 6000 Menu Flow Chart Operations" is the same in English and German, except the German gets an umlaut in Menu (!).

The Bad

Alas, the looks are skin deep. Apparently the case designer doesn't have much experience in building small, practical devices. The biggest fault lies in the way the batteries are situated. I can almost guarantee that it'll take you quite some time to figure out how to get the battery covers off (they pull straight up, but you have no way to leverage against them, so you end up having to insert a screwdriver into a small hole to get them started). Then there's the batteries, themselves. They're really difficult to get in and out. So much so that you'll rarely want to change batteries, even with the free second set Archos provides.

The control software is pretty simplistic, though the manual makes it sound much more complex than it is. Once you realize that there may be more options at any point than the LCD can display (and no, it doesn't provide any indication that there are more options available), you'll be zipping around the menus without scratching your head. If you've dragged folders of MP3s onto the drive, you basically navigate to the folder you want to hear using the + and - buttons, press Play once to enter the folder, then press Play again on the first file you find there. The Archos plays all the MP3s in that folder once (well, at least if you haven't set it to one of the other play modes, like single, repeat all, or shuffle). But the Archos isn't smart enough to look for other folders at the same level and continue playing there. No biggy, really, as browsing to a new folder isn't that big a deal. Still, you'll need to give some thought to how you organize folders of music on the Archos. If you want a continuous, 10-hour music marathon that's hands-free, you'll need to put 10 hours of music into a single folder (or build a Playlist, if you can; read on).

Some users have complained that the volume control is buried a level down in the menu system--press Menu, press +, press Play, then press the + and - buttons to adjust the levels. Sure, it'd be nice if volume was directly controllable when music is playing, but I don't find the extra button presses much of a problem.

The Jukebox 6000 has user-updateable firmware. That's a good thing, because it really appears that the software is far from done (despite the fact that it's currently at version 4.53 on my unit).

The Ugly

The MP3 playback software is just confusing enough to warrant a manual. Unfortunately, Archos doesn't supply a readable one. Or even one that makes any sense. For example: "For proper operation, insert the Jukebox 6000 upside down in the pouch." Now what the heck's that all about? And which way is upside down, as that could mean face down in the case, or top down in the case. Top down doesn't make any sense, as then the Headphone and Line Out jacks are buried at the bottom of the carrying case. Face down doesn't make any sense, as the orientation of the drive is still the same in regards to gravity.

The manual is full of such strangeness. But it's also full of run-on instructions, such as "Initiate recording of the standard playlist, "StPlaylist", located in the root directory. Leave the menu by pressing Menu and browse through the hard disk, press Play/Select button for each song you want to include in the playlist. When finished, return to Playlist Menu to turn OFF recording." If you read that paragraph often enough, you'll actually think you've discovered a great feature that's poorly documented. Now try to find Playlist on the Archos. Oops, it doesn't exist. It does appear from the manual that the Archos understands MusicMatch playlists, but there's a problem, there, too: you need to keep the same file structure on both your computer and the Jukebox 6000. (Archos: if you're reading this, you should know that even good technical writers like myself don't really cost that much, and you'll find that what you do spend on getting clear, accurate manuals you'll more than save on customer support.)

Don't plan on using the Jukebox 6000 during exercise, by the way. The drive is way too sensitive to movement for use while jogging. The supplied carrying case doesn't help matters, either, as neoprene turns into a giant spring with all that weight of the hard drive inside. I wouldn't even use the supplied case for walking, as it just doesn't hold the unit in one place as you move. But walking with the Archos in my pack seems to work just fine.

Bottom Line

If you can find it at a low enough cost, the Archos is a reasonable backup drive for your laptop or digital camera, plus a decent, if slightly confusing, MP3 player. With a better manual, completed software, and a remote control, the Archos could be the best MP3 player out there. Unfortunately, we're not likely to the get the first item, the second is slowly dribbling out of Archos' labs, and the final piece hasn't shown up yet.

Recommended, with minor reservations if you're buying it only as an MP3 player.

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