Author Topic: Virtual Jukebox finished! (Read 24319 times)

VMJ Team · « **on:** November 07, 2002, 10:54:19 am »

Just finished my jukebox project. It uses custom software "Virtual Jukebox"...which has been revised due to number responses. The software now defines albums based on a directory structure of (ARTIST-ALBUM-TRACKS).

The Jukebox uses a 533 Mhz PC with 15" flat panel LCD monitor.

http://www.cybertechdesign.net/software/Jukebox/index.htm

JLR2000 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 07, 2002, 11:48:59 am »

Looks good. Took me a minute to realize it was a tabletop tho....(didn't read part about 15" LCD). Understand all the ports, but why the phone jack?

I'm looking forward to building my own Jukebox....would like to have something bigger than the tabletop, but I think that would take a lot more design. Anyway, nice job.

electricd · « **Reply #2 on:** November 07, 2002, 03:38:02 pm »

My guess would be so that the songs/software can be updated no matter where the box is installed. Most places have at least a phonejack that they could connect so that the box can be on the network to accept small software updates, or maybe even a few songs. Great work scott, keep up the good work. To everyone else, if you havent seen www dot mameroom dot com, you should really check it out. This guys work is incredible!

ED7

planetjay · « **Reply #3 on:** November 07, 2002, 07:10:38 pm »

I just realized.... IT'S SITTING ON A TABLE!

I guess when it grows up it'll be a juke box.

electricd · « **Reply #4 on:** November 07, 2002, 07:35:20 pm »

I think it is a pretty good idea. What is the use in having a huge arcade, when a bartop will do. Of course this doesnt apply to MAME cabinets! Bigger is usually better.

ED7

VMJ Team · « **Reply #5 on:** November 08, 2002, 07:49:02 am »

I don't necessarily agree...If I were to make my arcade cabs a little smaller, I could have more room in my gameroom for something else....if have all the room in the world...knock yourself out with Jurrassic machines...

But all this thing does is select and play music...no need for it to be taking up ungodly amounts of space. It's now attached to a wall in my living room..if it were any bigger...I'd have to put it somewhere else. Sort of like computers...back in the day, they used to take up entire rooms...Great things do tend to come in smaller packages. But, of course, it is all a matter of preference...I tend to lean on the side of technology instead of nostalgia...but then again, I also don't have much room in my house.

electricd · « **Reply #6 on:** November 08, 2002, 08:24:06 am »

I can agree there. Either way, the thing looks amazing! Keep coming up with those inovative ideas!

ED7

VMJ Team · « **Reply #7 on:** November 08, 2002, 08:32:56 am »

Thanks...I actually started to build a sit-down cab, but scrapped it for this...maybe the sit-down will be a project for next year.

Dink · « **Reply #8 on:** November 08, 2002, 11:20:43 am »

Very, very nice!

But dude, you need to pay some "Bills".

Chris · « **Reply #9 on:** November 08, 2002, 11:22:19 am »

Excellent work! I was fooled by the size at first, too.... but good things come in small packages. Very nicely done!

--Chris

planetjay · « **Reply #10 on:** November 08, 2002, 12:13:16 pm »

Quote from: JLR2000 on November 07, 2002, 11:48:59 am

Understand all the ports, but why the phone jack?

I'm not sure why he has one, but on my cockpit I used the dialup modem quite a bit. Just before I moved from Baton Rouge to Lafayette, I took a lightning strike on the phone line. That took out my main PC and alot of other stuff.

So for about 3 months after I moved I actually worked out of my cockpit, checking the web every morning for that days jobs and closing them every night. But I finally did get DSL and another computer. And the funny thing was I had no need for the modem when I put an external jack on it. So you never know exactly what you will end up doing when you build your machine. And a little work now can save alot of work later.

And while I'm on the cockpit subject... I have found out that I'm not moving to Chicago, or at least not for a while. Seems I may have cut up the World's First MAME Cockpit for nothing.

But at least I have parts now for Cabinet 3.0!

VMJ Team · « **Reply #11 on:** November 08, 2002, 01:07:16 pm »

The modem is primarily used for gathering track information. I use a program called "FreeRip" to extract audio tracks from CD's. Most older CD's do not have a TOC which display track, album ,artist information. FreeRip automatically goes out on the internet and grabs track titles, artist, and album info so you don't have to manually name each track file. The Cat-5 Jack is used to transfer info to and from my laptop. I have triple T1's at work...so I usually do my downloading there...transfer it to my laptop, take it home and transfer stuff (mp3's) into the jukebox. The 1/8" stereo jack was supposed to be to hook up external speakers...or to a stereo (as an option), but when I hooked up the y-adapter to my sound card...the sound would cut out (anyone know a way around this?)....so I just hooked that jack up to the microphone jack on the sound card....plug in a mic and you have kareoke (not me...my voice sux, but my daughter likes it). The USB jack is also used to download stuff from my digital camera....I can take photos of album covers and get a good enough quality pic to download into the jukebox.

Rockin · « **Reply #12 on:** November 08, 2002, 02:24:11 pm »

I think your software rocks, currently setting it up so my music library is compatible. My quesiton is, what happens after album 99, it seems like your program is expecting only a 4 digit input. Just looking ahead, I just finished getting my "A" list done and am at Album 19 so I know I will hit 100 shortly.

VMJ Team · « **Reply #13 on:** November 08, 2002, 03:20:56 pm »

I was wrong when I said VJ supported unlimited albums...due to a change in the method to select albums...the album number was limited to 99 albums...I created a quick fix by adding another digit to the selection...for now, it will support 999 albums, but I'm working to make this unlimited.

The track selection does NOT have to be 5 digits:
for example:

To play Album 002 : Track 03
You could type "203" or "0203" or "00203"....

The updated program can be downloaded here:
http://www.cybertechdesign.net/software/Jukebox_Setup.zip

or just the executable

http://www.cybertechdesign.net/software/Virtual Jukebox.exe

Lord_Hutt · « **Reply #14 on:** November 09, 2002, 10:17:52 am »

NICE!! This is just about exactly what I was looking for.

Couple questions.
When I try to view in full screen it just puts 2 cd covers on the far left and nothing on the right and if you try to scroll they are like jumbled together on the left side. The jukebox still plays songs if you punch in the numbers but you can shuffle through the cd's. If I resize back to the smaller screen after this happens it does the same thing.....except that it will shuffle through the cd's but there will be only 2 visible on the left side.
(heh....I hope I made that clear :-)

Another thought I had was (and I know this will give it less of a jukebox feel so some people may not want it.....perhaps you could have 2 versions or just an option to shut it off) but until I build a jukebox I will be using this on my pc and would'nt mind if there were buttons on the interface for the function keys i.e. mute, pause, skip track etc.

One more thing....I really want to use a touchscreen when I do build my jukebox. There has been discussion around here that they work just like clicking a mouse so your program would really do the trick....it is alot like the Rowe commercial jukebox that I was trying to find software for. Just wanted to know if you or anyone else can confirm that this would work.

Ahh, one more thing. Have you had any thoughts about putting a credit accepter on it (with freeplay option) for a more complete jukebox feel?

Thanks for the great software!!

Andy Desak

eightbit · « **Reply #15 on:** November 09, 2002, 03:27:35 pm »

I should be able to tell you later today if a touch screen works. I'm working on setting up a computer with one right now. I'm having trouble getting the sound card to work. There is no reason why the touchscreen shouldn't work perfectly. In full screen mode you can use the mouse but the mouse cursor is hidden. This is exactly what you'd want for a touch screen.

I'm not having trouble with scrolling cd covers but I did have trouble with win2k. I tried loading it on 3 different win2k professional and every time I ran setup it told me it needed to upgrade system files and reboot. I did that and it told me the same thing again. The first XP pro system I put it on it worked right off the bat.

Back to working on my sound card, I'll post an update later tonight or tommorrow.

Lord_Hutt · « **Reply #16 on:** November 09, 2002, 04:53:21 pm »

Well, I got the fullscreen working. Instead of selecting view full screen after the program is running I selected start up fullscreen and it worked.

Looking forward to hearing your touchscreen results....can you give me some info on the touchscreen you are using? Such as, size, brand, cost, lcd or crt.

Thanks.
Andy

eightbit · « **Reply #17 on:** November 10, 2002, 03:39:07 am »

I fixed my sound card problem. The mother board had a sound chipset on it but did not have the daughterboard on it to actually plug speakers into it. Once I disabled that I was able to get the new sound card working.

The touchscreen is incredible with this software, its definately the way to go. The only complaint I could have is the buttons are a little small on my 15" monitor. You can also play the songs directly by touching them with your finger but they are even smaller. Even with that I am EXTREMELY

happy with how it works.

The touch screen I am using came out of a gift registry where I work.
http://hower.us/ebay\IMG_7280.JPG. In the middle of that picture you should see a gift kiosk. I'm going to cut that down so that its just the width of the monitor and about 3 foot tall and make that a jukebox. The monitor doesn't have a case on it since its built for mounting into a cabinet so its perfect for this with a nice bezel on the front. The monitor was made by a company called ELO who makes some great touch screens. Its reather large, not much bigger height and width than the 15" screen but its about 18"s deep.

I'll get better pictures of the monitor and kiosk tomorrow and post them. Its 3:30am and I need to go to bed...

BobA · « **Reply #18 on:** November 10, 2002, 01:28:47 pm »

Is there anyway to install the software manually? I am trying to install under Windows 98SE and the install program stops responding during the final update and never completes the install. I shut everything else down and have tried to install on Drive D: and C: but it still hangs up. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

BobA

Tried it on another computer with W98SE and it hung up in the final part of the install again. When try to run the application it gives me a fault with msdxm.ocx. That is about all I have found out so far.

Lord_Hutt · « **Reply #19 on:** November 10, 2002, 01:30:00 pm »

Quote from: eightbit on November 10, 2002, 03:39:07 am

I fixed my sound card problem. The mother board had a sound chipset on it but did not have the daughterboard on it to actually plug speakers into it. Once I disabled that I was able to get the new sound card working.

The touchscreen is incredible with this software, its definately the way to go. The only complaint I could have is the buttons are a little small on my 15" monitor. You can also play the songs directly by touching them with your finger but they are even smaller. Even with that I am EXTREMELY happy with how it works.

The touch screen I am using came out of a gift registry where I work.
http://hower.us/ebay\IMG_7280.JPG. In the middle of that picture you should see a gift kiosk. I'm going to cut that down so that its just the width of the monitor and about 3 foot tall and make that a jukebox. The monitor doesn't have a case on it since its built for mounting into a cabinet so its perfect for this with a nice bezel on the front. The monitor was made by a company called ELO who makes some great touch screens. Its reather large, not much bigger height and width than the 15" screen but its about 18"s deep.

I'll get better pictures of the monitor and kiosk tomorrow and post them. Its 3:30am and I need to go to bed...

Sounds great, Dude! Let us know when you get it running and have some more pics!

Lord_Hutt · « **Reply #20 on:** November 10, 2002, 01:36:56 pm »

Where did you get the arrow and number buttons that you used?

One more suggestion if you dont mind me nitpicking :-)
Can you make so when you go to add more cd's that it remembers the last directory you used?
Not a major thing but probably something easy to do.

Thanks again for the awesome program!

eightbit · « **Reply #21 on:** November 10, 2002, 06:14:04 pm »

Ok heres some pics of the kiosk I'm going to cut down and of the touch monitor I am using.

Heres the monitor, right now I have it hooked to a book PC but its running the music from my server. I have almost 1TB of raid 5 storage on my server so I'd rather keep my music there.

As you can see the monitor is designed to be mounted in a cabinet so this is perfect for it.

Heres a pic of the kiosk with the monitor removed-

The top is going to come off completely, so it'll be about 3 foot tall and I'm pretty sure I can re-use that plastic front.

Heres a pic with the bottom half of the cabinet rolled out, its basically on inline skate wheels.

Basically I'm going to wrap this frame and then the jukebox will be basically about as wide as the monitor.

In my opinion they way overbuilt these cabinets. Theres $50 worth of hardware on this thing that I can re-use in other projects. Nice vents, a window in the top to let in lights, a fan in the bottom, hinges, locks, and latches.

The best part, I got 2 of them free!

VMJ Team · « **Reply #22 on:** November 10, 2002, 06:24:22 pm »

The arrow buttons are low profile illuminated triangle buttons from happ controls...all the buttons are happs. I went to Pat Catans and found small adhesive letters for the numbers on the buttons. I was going to put a coin acceptor in the thing, but there is literally no more room inside the box....I designed it to be as slim of a profile as possible. It now hangs on a wall in mh living room. I'll post pictures tomorrow...

As for the software....after playing with it all weekend...I have found many bugs (including the ones mentioned) and will be correcting them ASAP...If you have any suggestions to make the program better, please let me know.

I'm pretty sure that the current version has a shut down feature (shut downs windows), by pressing the left and right cursors as the same time. I removed this feature from the newer versions...

TapeWurm · « **Reply #23 on:** November 10, 2002, 08:51:02 pm »

I had the exact same prob with WinME. Registered the ocx files manually and everything. Nothing worked. Anyway, I extracted the files from the cab file and then downloaded a replacement msdxm.ocx file. Once I replaced my previous copy of the file, it worked perfect. I downloaded the file from:
http://www.martin2k.co.uk/vb6/ocxs/msdxm.zip
Had to boot to command prompt in order to replace the file since it was constantly in use by windows too.
Hope this helps.

Quote from: BobA on November 10, 2002, 01:28:47 pm

Is there anyway to install the software manually? I am trying to install under Windows 98SE and the install program stops responding during the final update and never completes the install. I shut everything else down and have tried to install on Drive D: and C: but it still hangs up. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

BobA

Tried it on another computer with W98SE and it hung up in the final part of the install again. When try to run the application it gives me a fault with msdxm.ocx. That is about all I have found out so far.

[url=http://]]][url]]http://

TapeWurm · « **Reply #24 on:** November 10, 2002, 09:00:22 pm »

Just want to say that this program is almost EXACTLY what I have been imagining for a custom jukebox. Do want to let you know that there was a installation problem in my WinME. Constant file error message (see my reply to another user's problem with the same issue). Anyway, I appreciate your great effort but am curious if some of these ideas may ever be incorporated.
1: Can the video player play or will it ever play vid files other than wmv files? Such as mpgs? avi? etc.. mpgs are so much easier to find, although conversion is easy too.
2: If I had 400 albums to scroll through, is there a quicker way to get to say, album 127 or whatever. Is there a way to jump to an album? If not, perhaps a small search bar so finding "Beatles Anthology" or "Metallica" would be easier? I know I can key the number directly, but that would take knowing a certain song was on album 127, track 4.
3: I have MP3s with file names like artist-title. These can be long and the program doesnt show the whole title. Can it scroll to see the whole thing?
Thanks for all yout help and answers and thaks for the AWESOME program!

VMJ Team · « **Reply #25 on:** November 11, 2002, 07:33:41 am »

All of the suggestions in this thread are excellent suggestions (which will be added-probably today). As for the installation issues...I'm using the standard Deployment Wizard for VB. I've encountered problems before and will create a new setup program for the software using Install Shield...this should correct the install problems. Once I have final pictures of my jukebox up on my site...I'll let everyone know when they can check it out (if interested).

TapeWurm · « **Reply #26 on:** November 11, 2002, 08:37:43 am »

Sounds great! Please be sure to post whenever there's an update! Can't wait to get it!!!!!

VMJ Team · « **Reply #27 on:** November 11, 2002, 09:35:15 am »

Virtual Jukebox update:

I've updated the program with the following features:

1) Pressing left and right arrow at same time will prompt to shut down the PC.

2) The PAGE UP and PAGE DN buttons will jump to the next page of Albums for faster selection

3) Added an "interactive" mode....when you TYPE the first three digits of the album, that album will be display full screen for easier viewing. This feature was created to display longer track names and lists. This feature is under Options.

4) Hopefully fixed the install problems (needs to be tested on various platforms)...removed the Windows Media player ocx from install...this means that version 7+ of Windows media player needs to be already installed on the PC.

Future support for:

1) Mpegs and other filetypes is planned
2) Remembering last directory selected.
3) New installation program

The latest setup program can be downloaded from
http://www.cybertechdesign.net/software/Jukebox/index.htm

-or just the executable-

http://www.cybertechdesign.net/software/Virtual%20Jukebox.exe

I've also added a few final pics of my Jukebox hanging on a wall in my living room:
http://www.cybertechdesign.net/software/Jukebox/index.htm

VMJ Team · « **Reply #28 on:** November 11, 2002, 09:50:54 am »

One more thing regarding Virtual Jukebox: I'm a shareware developer (I currently have over 56 programs for download) and I will be adding Virtual Jukebox to my list of shareware relatively soon. There will soon be a nominal registration fee. I know this turns alot of people off, but it does help to promote software upgrades...after, wilth ALL of my titles...if a registered user requests a feature to be added...I add it to the next version and give free upgrades to all users.

Anyways, I appreciate everyones input, suggestions in this forum...everyone who wishes to be a beta tester for Virtual Jukebox will of course receive all versions for FREE (Accepting beta testers today 11/11/02 only).

Please email me at cyberpunk@cybertechdesign.net

Thanks for everyones support.

waveryder · « **Reply #29 on:** November 11, 2002, 01:57:55 pm »

I was wondering just how long it was gonna take you to start selling!
Nothing like building up some interest in a project. I E-mail Cyberpunk on the day he first released Virtual Jukebox requesting that he should inform users that the intention of this project was to sell his software. His reply was that he did not require the assistance of "the community" to produce his software. So I would like to congratulate CYBERPUNK on an excellent job advertising his newest product!

VMJ Team · « **Reply #30 on:** November 11, 2002, 04:03:06 pm »

Yes, I remember you waveryder. But I don't remember saying anything along the lines of what you mentioned.

I think I said something along the lines of: If $10 bucks is too steep for someone....then I won't be upset if you don't download the software...but for those who do, it's like having your own personalized version...registered users will get there program updates and requests implimented (within reason) at no additional charge. This is what I do for a living...I'm a programmer. I don't ask anyone for their services/products for free.

Anyone who has purchased something from me knows the kind of support they get.

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #31 on:** November 11, 2002, 11:20:26 pm »

Man that is a sweet-looking rig. Your software has prompted me to actually re-think doing a jukebox myself!

Ted_Striker · « **Reply #32 on:** November 12, 2002, 12:40:11 am »

Your project looks awesome. You definately have inspired

... I started mine yesterday. I was wondering if you would post a little more construction details. I was specifically interested in the buttons you used. you said they were from happ. would you mind sharing the part numbers? Or maybe even some links? ( I looked on happ but didn't find the arrow buttons.. I probably missed them). Also in your design did you consider the effects that the magnets in your speakers might have on your computer equipment? have you noticed any pc glitches when playing the system loud?

More Details, Details, Details on a wonderful project.

VMJ Team · « **Reply #33 on:** November 12, 2002, 07:33:37 am »

Thanks for the comps...my wife was much more understanding of this project than my arcade cab projects...I looked everywhere for "arrow" buttons and found nothing...but when I did a search for "triangle" buttons...it brought me right back to good 'ol Happs...

http://www.happcontrols.com/pushbuttons/710004tx.htm

I wanted to use all illuminated buttons, but that would have added $100 extra to the cost of this thing. I know that probably doesn't sound like much for a project...but I was on a budget for this one and the ONLY thing I had to buy was the flat panel LCD and the buttons...I had everything else left over from my cab projects.

I'm currently working on the step-by-step construction manual for my Ultimate Arcade II cabinet...If there's enough responses...I might end up making one for the jukebox. I'm still way away from doing something like that...but I could post dimensions and stuff on the www.mameroom.com website. In the meantime, if anyone wants the CAD file or dimensions....email me directly at cyberpunk@cybertechdesign.net.

DZuroff · « **Reply #34 on:** November 12, 2002, 02:44:22 pm »

Excellent job there Cyperpunk! I am one of the many lurkers here in the forum just absorbing as much information as I can... I am to the point where I am about to start on my arcade cabinet and your jukebox project has inspired me to eventually build one of my own! I have to say your jukebox software is the best I have yet to find. Let me know when the final release is out and where I can mail the check! :)

VMJ Team · « **Reply #35 on:** November 12, 2002, 04:03:20 pm »

Thanks... I just updated the software to include the following features:

1) Track Search via on-screen keyboard
2) Option to resize all text/buttons.
3) Interactive Mode...show selected albums full size
4) Page Up/Page Dn quick scroll features

The demo version can be downloaded at:
http://www.cybertechdesign.net/software/Jukebox_Setup.zip

Currently, the registration fee may be sent through ww.PayPal.com to: Programmer@cybertechdesign.net

More updates to come...

rgardjr · « **Reply #36 on:** November 13, 2002, 06:33:08 pm »

Need some help installing on Windows98SE machine. Same problems as above it locks up in final stage of install. I did replace the msdxm.ocx file with the one in the link and the prorgram will start-instead of crashing-but I don't have any sound. Let me know if there's something I can try on my end. I'm hoping to set this up to display on my big screen tv and make a keypad for my Pronto remote.
Thanks-
Rick Gardner

eightbit · « **Reply #37 on:** November 13, 2002, 09:35:39 pm »

Hey rgardjr do you get any sound in windows? Can you play mp3's from windows media player?

rgardjr · « **Reply #38 on:** November 14, 2002, 04:52:21 pm »

Quote from: eightbit on November 13, 2002, 09:35:39 pm

Hey rgardjr do you get any sound in windows? Can you play mp3's from windows media player?

I think it might be a bit rate problem the mp3 that I was trying to play are encoded at 192 kbs which works for WinAmp, but doesn't look like Media Player supports this bit rate. Does this sound about right? I just got it to play back an MP3 encoded at 128 kbs so it looks like it was just a problem with the bit rate not being supported.

My next question: Is there a way to increase the font size? I'm pretty sure that the current font is not going to be readable on my big screen. I saw that there is an option to resize text and buttons-but it didn't look like it was implemented yet.

Thanks-
Rick Gardner

VMJ Team · « **Reply #39 on:** November 15, 2002, 02:45:02 pm »

I've updated Virtual Jukebox with some new features...I'm still working on getting everyone's request in, but here's the latest upgrades:

1) Entering "00" after selecting album plays entire album.
2) Users can specify font styles, sizes and colors.
3) VJ remembers window size and position from last loaded.
4) Credit feature
5) More customizable options such as (hiding all features)
6) Added an "Exit" program mode as well as "Shut Down" mode
7) Quick jump through albums

Remapable Keys, for users with existing cabinets or arcade cabs.

More to come.
For those who already installed the demo, download the executable and copy into the installation directory:
http://www.cybertechdesign.net/software/Virtual%20Jukebox.exe

For the latest setup program, please go here:
http://www.cybertechdesign.net/software/Jukebox/index.htm


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Author Topic: Virtual Jukebox finished! (Read 24319 times)

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