Audio to Go

Continued from page 1

By Simson Garfinkel

February 5, 2003

Still, I must gush about the JBR FM's user interface. This machine packs a ton of functionality, yet I didn't need to read the user manual to get excellent results. That's because the unit has 10 buttons on its front panel, a backlit LCD display that can show 8 lines of text for song information, graphic volume meters for recording and playback, and an easy-to-navigate set of menus. Somebody put a lot of thought into this system, and it shows.

The player has a built-in rechargeable battery and comes with one of those wart-like transformers to charge it up. A full charge easily got me through a whole day of use, which included recording a three-hour lecture. (Archos rates the battery at 12 hours of playback time.) You can even change the recording quality, for a total of 300, 600, or 750 hours of total recording time on the hard drive. The system also has a neat "retro-record" feature in which it will store in the MP3 file everything that the microphone heard 30 seconds before you hit the record button-something that's only possible with a digital recorder. Overall, the JBR FM is an excellent piece of engineering.

I like the JBR FM a lot-but not enough to buy it with my own money. Gone are the days that journalists got to keep review units as freebies [Don't even think about it. ed.], so my review unit is sadly going back to Archos.

Archos ONDIO 128 - $150

For half the price of the JBR FM, you can pick up the Ondio 128, also from Archos. Instead of a built-in hard drive, the Ondio 128 has 128MB of flash memory and supports additional memory expansion using the MultiMedia Memory flash card slot on the side.

Compared with the JBR FM, the Ondio's FM tuner has more static on weak stations and a user interface that's harder to use. The display is not backlit, making it hard to see in low-light environments. Instead of a rechargeable battery, it takes three AAA alkaline batteries, which get sucked dry after about 12 hours of playback time. My unit had some problems with the battery contacts: I had to bend them a bit so that the batteries would stay in place and make proper a proper connection.

Like the JBR FM, the Ondio has a built-in microphone and a line-in jack. Attach the Ondio to your computer and its memory shows up as an external USB drive, once again making it easy to move music back and forth.

Weighing in at 3.4 ounces and with an all-plastic body (the more expensive unit has a metal one), the Ondio feels flimsy. Nevertheless, I would probably purchase one, given the price, if the FM receiver was better. But FM reception is really important to me, so I'll pass.