Dell Digital Jukebox
2nd generation 20 gig
By DChenster (3/7/2005)
I ordered the Dell Digital Jukebox 2 generation (20 gig) on Oct 29, 2004, and I never got it on that order. I put the history and my thought in the Opinion piece if you are interested. There are a lot of problem at the Dell, which they ship the item to people who ordered after me, and then they keep insist they shipped in the order that comes in. After some research on the different forums, which there are possibilities Dell shipped orders that comes in after thanksgiving, also people call or e-chatted first, then for rest people who ordered. Maybe it's just me, or I ordered the FM remote with it too, but I don't like to be treated like other people are more important customer than me. So for me, I am very dissatisfied with Dell, and their previously highly valued services.
Dude, I am getting a Dell DJ, and I only had to re-order it after 10 weeks.
Now with that out the way, that's take a look at what Dell Digital Juke box 2nd generation.
Specification from Dell Website:
1 Assumes audio format is 64kbps WMA encoding with average song length of 4 min.
2 Estimated, pending final testing results. Battery life is based on continuous play.
3 For hard drives, GB means 1 billion bytes; actual capacity varies with preloaded material and operating environment and will be less.
4 Weight is for unit only.
After few check into, the other detail of the unit that I received:
First of all, WMA files are smaller size, but some people only have MP3s, so the unit will store fewer songs. Even less if it is 128 kbps or better kbps, or longer song.
The default transferring methods are Music Match and Dell Explorer, which they are functional, excellent way of file transferring, but 3rd party software from Red Chair Software are better for file transferring.
There are a lot of professional review site that reviews Dell DJ 2nd Generation, there are the few out top of my head:
Items included in the box:
Player itself
Manual
Driver CD (include Music Match Software and driver CD)
USB Connection Cable (for Charging and Data connection)
AC adaptor
3.00 Gig transferred in 9 minutes 23 seconds. The music was transferred using dell explorer.
The big o' box that comes when shipped. Right side is the DJ, left side is for CD or optional accessories that comes with the unit.
This is what people have been waiting for.
Yes, it is a Hitachi hard drive. It said it on the box.
The Service Tag and some other info outside the box. Made in Malaysia.
The data CD, installation poster and manual.
The Data CD comes with Music Match Jukebox, Dell DJ explorer, Dell DJ driver, and User's guide. Which all these besides Music Match service, can be downloaded from Dell's website, and Music Match need to go to www.musicmatch.com.
The installation poster showed a Dock, but it doesn't come with a dock, it is an optional accessories.
Simple, plain manual.
The DJ is in next layer.
From left is DJ, earpiece, and AC adaptor with out power cord (power cord comes under this layer).
this is the items in this section
Front Side of DJ. Sorry, there are no side view because there is nothing on the two side
Back side shows all the goodies and stuff, but no actual functional items there.
From top of the DJ which it sits on the optional Dock so I can take a picture. From left is volume up, volume down, power, system lock, and right side is remote (optional) / earplug section.
next section is the cables.
AC cable for the AC adaptor.
The connection will look like this
DJ to USB connector, which connect it under the DJ and connect to USB port on the computer. For both Data Transfer and Charging.
The DJ software will install all those functions automatically
Do not plug DJ in Yet
Find location of storage
Installation of Music Match 9.0
Wow.... Britney Spear. Just kidding.
Installation of DJ explorer, DJ driver, and Acrobat 5.
Wow, installation is finally done, but it really it only takes twenty minutes. The tough part comes next section when using the device transferring files and using it.
The instructions and software works fine for regular user, but I personally prefer Red Chair's Dude box, which I do tested and it is function better and faster than Dell's DJ explorer.
If you don't like to spend $25.00 for the Dude Box, The regular Dell DJ Explorer would be sufficient for transferring files and data. Which it just open up a window like file explorer in your operating system. To put files in the DJ just simple of drag and drop, and it will download into the system. MP3 files will go to music folder, and data go to the data filer.
This is the fun part, The Menu....
Ready?
the power button will take about a couple second to start it.
Press and hold the power button will take another two second to shut down.
The main menu.
Press the wheel right in the center of the main menu after chose the section will sent you to next section, in this case is settings & info. As you can see, this is Firmware version 1.00.03, and space of 19056 MB with 10181 MB left.
Here is your time.
Calender.
Setting of Unit
The Albums selections.
Press Find Albums which give alphabets selections screen to fast search.
This is displaying while the playing music.
The End. (Dell DLA, separate review)
Opinion:
The unit has good size, few basic accessories, but don’t expect too much out of it functional wise, and only for playing digital audio. I still won't recommend it for lot's of physical activity, and I won't recommend if you are using it as MP3 player/ External HD due to it does require driver to function as External HD, but itself is very good. The unit itself is very robust design, seems like it can handle a lot of shake, and slight moving. it's cheaper and better then Apple IPOD. At end, I would buy it because it's small, large capacity, cheap, and overall very good design. but please see what other website reviews shows in the link down below.
Update(2/19/2005) : I sold my DJ this week due to some personal issue, but this is still great unit, and excellent Apple Ipod alternative.
Update(3/17/2005): Something interesting from Dell today. Dell finally got a firmware that will connect to window XP without a driver, eventhrough it is still beta, but still worth checking out. But this comes too late and too slow for me, because I already sold it to someone for better usage. A least this is one step forward to a better MP3 player.
Excellent:
Good price: less then $250.00, Cheaper if there are more Dell coupon codes
Size: smaller size compare to some other 20 Gig MP3 player models
Great Quality on workmanship
Solid machine
Sufficient space in the MP3 player for me, which everyone has their own opinion
19056 MB of Space total, comes with 19007 MB of storage space after few free song
Light weight
Not so Excellent:
No docking (Optional Accessory)
Optional FM remote for recording and FM radio (50 dollars).
Still need driver to make it work
Not plug and play
Substandard earphone
Not enough accessories
Not loud enough
Short battery power
Dell Explorer doesn’t organize music in their original music folder that transferred
Links to other useful sites: