JUKEBOX - for home entertainment

scribs

Hi Guys

I am looking into building my own modern day Jukebox. I have a lot of music in mp3 format and would like to store it all in something like a modern day juke box.
I would like to have a touch screen system that presents all the album art and facilitates searching by artist, songs, key words etc.
Has anyone knocked up a system like this. If so what software, touch screen etc did you use and where did you get it. I am particularly interested in what people have to say about different touchscreen opions as i really like the idea of this.

Any suggestions/advice?

Idleater

Is it for personal use or for a commercial installation?

If it is a personal one, what about a tablet PC. You could install iTunes/WMP, connect the headphones socket to an amp, connect via wireless to your main computer and stream the music wirelessly.

I have pretty much done this but I use an old laptop instead of the Tablet PC. You could make a neat enclosure/docking bay for the pc near the amplifier that could look pretty cool.

For a commercial enviornment, there was a thread about something similar a while back.

L.

andy1249

Sounds like you want a HTPC ( home theatre PC ) ,

Heres what " My Music " Screen looks like in Windows MCE , is this the type of thing you are looking for ?
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/xpmce2005_26.jpg

If so go to the HTPC forums , thats where you'll get the info you need.

Note that Microsoft are not the only ones who do this type of software , there is also Mediaportal , Myth TV ( thats for Linux ) , and some others.

For Music all You will need just a basic PC , and Im sure an appropriate touch screen is not hard
to find.
Heres one from Komplett ,
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=318364

scribs

thanks for the replies nereid and andy 1249.

The system is for personal use. I currently have a laptop connected to 3 different harddrives which house music, films, tv programmes etc.

For my music I am looing for a seperate system that I can connect into a sound system for my appartment.

so when im throwing a party I dont have people falling over my lap top trying to change songs etc.

The idea of durable touchscreen Jukebox system appeals to me.

Ill check out the HTPC section.

SouperComputer

You could build a PC with a touchscreen and use Sliverserver

Itsan open source \ free streaming server and works through a web interface which has a touchscreen skin too If you have other "squeezebox's" about the house you can control the whole operation from the interface. It has lots of cool features like the ability to sync player. So for example, you could have a PC upstairs, the laptop in the kitchen and the jukebox in the living room playing the same music.

The clients can be hardware or software. You can also stream to winamp, media player, VLC etc etc

To play the music on the "server" unit, you just need to install softsqueeze on it.

Specs wise a PII 400 with 128MB RAM would be plenty for a server only, however the java client is a bit heavier. If you plan playing music on the machine that is serving then maybe go for PIII800 with 256+. Much more than this is a waste. Keeping to this spec will help keep things quiet and cool. If you plan using large HD's no problem, just get an IDE\SATA card to add support for more modern HD's

Be sure to pickup an old Audigy 1 from ebay for great sound at next to buttons cost.

Have you made any considerations as to how you would like to add to the library? By ripping on the jukebox machine? Or perhaps setup a file share on the server\jukebox and copy\rip the files across.

Personally, I would install a lightweight version of linux (Such as Dawm Small Linux) and SAMBA to create a fileserver for ripping to.

If you aren't comfortable working with linux, go with Windows 2000 to keep the overheads low.

Best of luck with the project, be sure to keep us posted!

subway

http://www.audiosoft.net/

for what your doing,
using that piece of software with a touchscreen is ideal.
ive had it running at parties on a kb/mouse set up and people love it.

have been considering gtting a touchscreen myself and running that on it.

SouperComputer

subway wrote:

http://www.audiosoft.net/

for what your doing,
using that piece of software with a touchscreen is ideal.
ive had it running at parties on a kb/mouse set up and people love it.

have been considering gtting a touchscreen myself and running that on it.

Hmm nice software, just tried it now shame its Windows only. The search for album art seems to work though. Almost worth buying for that alone!

djspider_40

try one of these! http://www.pcdj.co.uk/shop/item.php?ref=12&id=35 expensive but worth it. I use one all the time, you can even connect it to your existing system. FWIW have a look on eBay, sometimes can get one cheaper. :cool: