Where to begin on a from scratch made JukeBox ?

[sray2k]

OK,
  I have some q's that i'd like for anyone to answer. I am planning to work on this project with my father, since he is the woodworker in the family and I am the "computer brains" in the family, we would like to start building a jukebox from scratch...But I have some q's about the "inners" of a jukebox. Any CPU/Mobo combo would work, right ? Now, what about the sound? Would we NEED an amp  If we plan on using a set of 5.1 surround "PC" speakers ?  I'd like the project with a touchscreen, how much would one of those cost us ?

Thanks a lot...
  Scott

[Barry Barcrest]

While you say any motherboard and CPU would work, personally i would go for the fastest you can and also make sure you can run win2k or XP on it. If you go to low end you will end up running win98 and some software might not run, i know mine doesn't like win98.

Also you might like to take your time downloading the various software from the jukebox wiki and trying it out. This will help you deicde what you need to build into your jukebox in terms of buttons etc depending on the software you choose.

[sray2k]

Thanks for the reply BarCrest !
  Yes... I would like to use the fastest Mobo/Cpu combo..But I am NOT sure if there is a budget on the parts. What kinda buttons should I look into ? Can you give me some examples of types of buttons ? I think he wants to get  all the parts and then build the cabinet ! I think he wants to do another one after this one and make it like nothing has been done before..[shudders]

thanks for your help again BarCrest !!

Scott

[Barry Barcrest]

Well what buttons you need depends on what software you want to use. If you are going to use my software (Freebox) and you have a touchscreen then you don't actually need any extra buttons. I would recomend having a either a keyboard hidden away or hard wiring up the ESC key to a hidden button so you can hide the options button and use it to call up the options screen. However you don't need to hide the options button as you can just asign a pin number to access it, like i said no other buttons required.

You can set windows to boot straight into freebox and there are options in freebox to shutdown the pc when you power off the software.

Like i said it is all down to the software you choose which is why i recomend you download a few you think you might like and try them out on a pc to see which you prefer. I think you have enough choice with the free software and i don't recommend you pay for juke software.

Wincab/Doscab
Space Fractals Juke
SK Juke
Freebox

All of thoose are free and are what i consider to be the best 4 doing the rounds right now and that is taking the ones you pay for into account. Obviously i have a vested intrest in Freebox as i wrote it. 

[Space Fractal]

- Wincab/Doscab best use is buttons, since it suited for simulate a old jukebox.

- Space Fractals (mine) Juke aka Arcade Music Box (Even I dosent update it anymore, it pretty stable) can used with a joystick/spinner and 2 buttons for best result.

- Sk Juke is best used with a keypad (if you ask me, it a decent app), but can used with a touch screen with very minor issues. Very popular here too.

- Freebox is best suited for touchscreen use, other very fine piece of software :-).

There are other too, look in the wiki.

As you can see all 4 app use deficient style of controllers, so it up to what you have think to use. My own run fine in Win 98 as well as some others too.

You dosent really need a fast cpu to run these applications, so a old one with about 400mhz should being enorch.

[shdwknt]

I personally prefer virtual music jukebox - virtualmusicjukebox.com

It has had its issues in the past - I have used versions as old as 6.0 and now up to 9.xxx

Of all the designs and layouts I find this really to be the most simplistic and fairly most jukebox like for me..

Really if you are using a touch screen this setup is really nice.. lots of customizable options and overall just looks clean.  It does not look like a windows app.  I ran it for a while on my laptop - set it all up the way I wanted and then bought a copy for my desktop that is now my jukebox.

Once you have all the settings set the way you want them - you really can get this to be a fairly professional looking software.

in a real jukebox (the last few that I can recall seeing in a pizza hut) you dont have the skip, rewind bla bla bla options, and this software lets you turn those features off to your "guest" - they come in pick a song or 12million, they get queued up by the software - and the next one plays when the first one is done - just like real quarter eating jukeboxes..

The software supports money accepter options (if you choose to go this route)

I just really like the feel of this software - it shows covers you scroll through - hit the keys you want or tap the song.. presto it plays..

Try it out.. like Space fractal / denmark said - try them all and if you like one use it.

links to my *almost* finished project - just have to setup the bar in front of the screen and setup the user control panel for my friends to come in and tag some tunes!

http://www.lucky7dvds.com/jukebox

[Barry Barcrest]

Do not use Virtual Music Jukebox.... It costs money and no longer appears to be supported. Their forums have been down for weeks and the software has quite a few bugs, so much so that V9 was pulled and reverted back to Version 7

[shdwknt]

I am actually using version 9 right now.. I just repurchased it - I havent found any problems with this new version and I have 356 full albums with covers in the system currently..

Last I knew they pulled the forums due to a bunch of clowns disrespecting the creators for "buggy" software - when some of the complaints looked liked they really just needed to either contact the creator or re-configure things..

I like the software and have never really had complaints with it.. I would wish I could use the license for both my laptop and my desktop so I can configure it while I am not at the desktop but hey oh well..

otherwise.. to each their own - I really like the clean look of it myself... everything else just looks so media player/itunesish to me..

[Barry Barcrest]

otherwise.. to each their own - I really like the clean look of it myself... everything else just looks so media player/itunesish to me..

Hmm you sure about that...