Redemption Jukebox conversion.. need design ideas

[TapeWurm]

In the redemption machine mega-purchase I just made, one of the machines is a weird jukebox designed ticket-spitter. You drop the coin down the chute and wherever it lands tells how many tickets you get. Then it plays about a 10 sec. midi sounding song clip (all of which are horrible) and spits the tickets. Anyway, it sucks as a game but I'm determined to make it my mp3 jukebox cabinet now. Here's a pic and what I'm looking for in the design.
Since it's an odd shape, it may be hard to do this, but I'm open to suggestions.
 Basically, I'd like to keep the entire look of the front since it has the cool spinning record and the neat coin/token chute. Doing so would greatly increase the difficulty of adding a montor for the mp3 app though. Perhaps a small one located in the marquee area would be ok?
Anyway, throw your suggestions at me. I need some insight on this one. I'm also getting inside of it in a few to see what kind of internals it has to play the music. I'd REALLY like to incorporate the large LEDs somehow, too. At the very least to show how many credits are inserted. Anyway, thanks in advance to anyone answering. Here's the pic: (there's also links below it to larger crappy pics, too)

http://users.adelphia.net/~tapewurm/juke2.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~tapewurm/juke3.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~tapewurm/juke4.jpg

[Crafty]

Ok Here goes..

Just throwing ideas at you..

Perhaps a small screen mounted on the chrome pole between the machine and the round marquee at the top..

Then wire in some normal  jukebox buttons in that area red with the word ICE located on it.

Alternatively it lloks like their might be space for a small screen in the top right hand corner

[TapeWurm]

Ok Here goes..

Just throwing ideas at you..

Perhaps a small screen mounted on the chrome pole between the machine and the round marquee at the top..

Then wire in some normal  jukebox buttons in that area red with the word ICE located on it.

Alternatively it lloks like their might be space for a small screen in the top right hand corner

Brilliant. How easy it is for me to be blinded to possibilities! Mounting the screen to the pole is a great idea in itself. It's hollow and would hide the cables perfectly! It is a little tall, so a lot of people would have to tilit their head a bit, but that's ok, I suppose. Controls on the 'ICE' area is also a good idea. But if the screen mounted to the pole were a touchpanel, even better.
As for the little area in the corner, it' would have to be a tiny screen since the coin chute goes into that area a bit. Thanks so much for the input. I've stared at this thing to no end and come up with nothing haha.

[Crafty]

If you stroll through e-bay they have lots of 8" and 10" touchscreen monitors available..

I did not suggest the touch screen purely because I thought it may be a bit high...

Although with careful mounting you could angle the screen down a bit

[TapeWurm]

If you stroll through e-bay they have lots of 8" and 10" touchscreen monitors available..

I did not suggest the touch screen purely because I thought it may be a bit high...

Although with careful mounting you could angle the screen down a bit

That's what I was thinking. That it would need to be tilted slightly. I'll pretend there's one on there just to see if it would be awkward or not. Hopefully it's not that much of a pain to point up to it. Beggers can't be choosers though, as I think that will probably be the best route to take.

[Barry Barcrest]

Get a touchscreen and don't worry about mounting buttons on the cab itself.... That is one crazy ass looking cab, i like it

[TapeWurm]

Well it's not as tall as I thought. I'm average height and my head comes perfectly level with the blank pole section on top, making this the perfect place for the monitor. Too bad I don't know alot about electronics so I could use the bottom LED display for a custom message or something. That would be sweet.

[Crafty]

Too bad I don't know alot about electronics so I could use the bottom LED display for a custom message or something. That would be sweet.

Post that question here in another section ?? Software or Main Section. I am sure someone would come up with a solution...
There was an arcade cabinet that displayed the name of the game being played on an LCD screen...
You might be able to do something similar...

[TapeWurm]

Too bad I don't know alot about electronics so I could use the bottom LED display for a custom message or something. That would be sweet.

Post that question here in another section ?? Software or Main Section. I am sure someone would come up with a solution...
There was an arcade cabinet that displayed the name of the game being played on an LCD screen...
You might be able to do something similar...

The unit has a small amp inside that has RCA inputs that are just screaming to be hooked up to the soundcard. This project, aside from the cost of the screen, is gonna go a lot better than I imagined. I'm ordering a service manual to find out what these 3 or 4 unconnected wires are. Pretty strange. I just designed, with wifies help, a new label to go around the 45 to give a little customization. It'll have pac-man and ghosts rotating around as it spins. I know that's not exactly music related, but it HAD to be done

[Crafty]

All I can say is take photos...

lots of photos...

[Barry Barcrest]

So are you going to go touchscreen? The public need to know 

[TapeWurm]

So are you going to go touchscreen? The public need to know 

I REALLY want to. I find the mouse thing takes away from the whole effect by telling everyone it's a computer. A trackball wouldn't be as bad, but I'd really like the search features and navigation to be as simple as possible, which touchscreen does so well. It comes down to the $$$$$ though haha.

[BobA]

If you are going LCD then I find that the buttons and a nice interface cost about as much as the additional cost of the touchscreen LCD.