Archos Adds To Multimedia Jukebox Line
By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 12/9/2002
Las Vegas— Archos Technologies added to its hard drive-based Multimedia Jukebox line and introduced its first flash memory-based product at Comdex last month.
The new models are the Multimedia Jukebox 120 and Multimedia Jukebox 220. The 120, an upgrade of an existing model, received USB 2.0 compatibility and a 3-megapixel digital camera module, sold separately.
Carry-over features on the 120 include MP3, MPEG4 video and digital image playback capability. The data is stored on a 20GB hard drive.
The 220 is similar to the 120 in functionality, but features a larger, 3.8-inch display.
Pricing has not been set for either product. The 120 should hit retail during the first quarter of 2003 and the 220 sometime later.
The new flash product is the Ondio portable audio player. The Ondio is a credit-card-size device with 128MB of internal memory, MultiMedia card slot, an FM tuner and a USB port for connection to a PC. It is expected to be in retail soon with a $149 suggested retail price.
Another variant on the Jukebox Multimedia product line is the Jukebox FM Recorder 20. This has a built-in FM receiver and the ability to record music off the radio. It started shipping in late November with a $199 suggested retail price.
Archos also introduced its first rewritable DVD drive and a portable CD player/recorder. The DEx DVD-RW, which just began shipping with a $219 suggested retail price, is an external drive that accepts DVD-RW and DVD-RAM media with 2x write, 1x rewrite and 40x read speeds and a USB 2.0 interface.
The Ceasar portable CD burner has 24x write, 10x rewrite and 24x read speeds. It carries a $129 suggested retail price and is now shipping.
