5. Storing Data Files

Personally, I have absolutely no need to carry around 20 GB of music, but the fact that the Dell Digital Jukebox can also store data files is a plus. Once it's installed (and connected), the Jukebox shows up as a drive in Explorer just like a hard drive, CD, or floppy drive. You can drag and drop files onto the Jukebox to transport them or use it as a backup device. For many, the monstrous storage space of these hard-drive based players is overkill, but if the storage space can be used for something else, it becomes far more attractive as a multifunction device. It would be cool to load and view files from a digital camera on it as well, but that would require a full color screen as well as some software development. Bet we'll start to see that in the future. Belkin makes a Firewire-based media card reader for the iPod that allows digital photo storage, so maybe Dell can get a leg up by allowing direct copying of media files from cameras as well as viewing. Always dreaming...

In the Department of Redundancy Department, if you go to the Dell folder in Program Files, you can also see the data contents of the Digital Jukebox. Most people, however, will probably stick with using Windows Explorer and add or delete files like they would on any other disc. Oddly, once the files are on the Dell Digital Jukebox, you can't view them on the device itself, but can only see them when it's connected to a computer. That can be a little disconcerting if you're transporting files and don't have your computer turned on. You also can't transfer files from the Jukebox to another computer that doesn't have the Dell File manager software installed, so it has limited capabilities. If you have a desktop machine and a laptop machine that both have the software installed, great. If you want to bring files to school or work or and copy them to a machine that doesn't have the Dell software installed, you're screwed.