Portable Jukebox

[SteveJ34]

I have never gotten around to doing my own jukebox project but I've been commissioned to put together a jukebox for the grandparents of my fiance.

They have a nice stereo setup in their den/bar so would probably do something to just interface with that for speaker sound when at home.

They also travel quite a bit in their RV as they are retired and it would be nice if they could take this along and hook up to their system in the RV when they travel.

That's where I kind of get stuck in the design....

Something that is easy to use but also portable....which on one hand could be as simple as just setting up software on a laptop.

But whats the fun in that? I'd prefer to custom build something....

I've been looking at different LCD sizes and tinkering with this and that. I haven't decided on software.....I have experience with SK, VMJ, others and a couple of *nix based media center styles. He does have a lot of single songs so album based may not be the best path....could just go with ITunes setup.

I welcome any and all replies with suggestions someone might wish to offer.

Thanks for looking....

[Space Fractal]

You can try wiki for the jukebox software for both touchscreen and with regular controllers:

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Jukebox_Software

My own software (Arcade Music Box) do support both singles and albums on same time, since they are "seperated" on thier each list (but they need to been on thier own path).

[LESLIEx317537]

You can run software for home use, then different software for car use. 

For I have a computer system in my car also, so I run Frodo Player which integrates GPS navigation well.  For $70 dollars you can get a GPS receiver and add that to your lil portable project and always know where you are.
www.mp3car.com
www.skjukebox.com
www.frodoplayer.com
www.usglobalsat.com

At home right now I run SKJukebox on my Regular PC on a 15" Elo LCD Touch on my Video cards secondary output.

Also you might consider getting a smaller Touchscreen or so since it's gonna be portable.  Also I recommend a Mini ITX board with nice mini PS like a PICO and that way you can run it off the 12 volt DC Power brick at home off 110volts AC, and then rig up a 12v Ciggerette adapter for your car/rv.

Build a small wooden box with a fan to house the LCD the board and the rest of the components and add a handle to it, and wala.  Your portable Jukebox/CarPC Navigation system.

This will run you about $1000 including the touchscreen though, so be ready to spend some money.

You can always fall back on your iTunes idea on this setup too...

[SteveJ34]

Thanks for the heads up on Frodoplayer!

What I have been toying with is setting up seperate systems and this would be ideal with small screen setup...