Anyone here use DWJukebox?

[Adultery]

Long story short, I have all the parts after I put the new board in the cab to build a dedicated jukebox. I was wondering if anyone uses this software, and if so, could you answer a couple easy questions for me? It really looks like the best option for me at this point, but if you know of any software that will handle this task better, feel free to make suggestions.

[ehuonder]

I've just started down this road as well. I selected DWJukebox initially because it supported DOS, which is what I was going to build it on... Then I came across an old laptop with WinXP. I've tried to continue to use DWJukebox, but I've ran into a problem since I've added an external USB harddrive. The software crashes when it tries to scan the external HD for songs... I'm slowly trying to figure out how to fix this because I like the SW... I might be able to help with your questions...

[Adultery]

Ahh you just answered one of them!

Although I was thinking I could just get a big HDD for it and install a card reader or USB ports on the outside to get around that problem. Is it a resource hog? Also, do I get to pick the singles that go together or does it just mix them based on artist using the ID3 tags?

[ehuonder]

Yeah... my laptop has a pretty small HDD, so I have an old external ADS USB 2.0 External HDD case with an 80 GB IDE drive in it. So far, if I keep my music on the internal HDD, then I don't have any problems scanning the music library. When I use the external USB drive, it fails at different points while scanning the music library.

As for resources, when I run it on my machine (Dell Latitude C800 P3-850MHz, 512MB, 1400x1050), it takes ~50% CPU and <40MB memory (according to Task Manager). I really don't think its much of a hog. It has an INI setting for CPUUsage ranging from 0 to 100 to somewhat control it's CPU priority. Mine is set to the default 10.

With the 'skin' that I'm running, is based on the cdbox2 skin. It displays 4 albums at a time (including the CD cover), and lists the songs underneath each image. I can then either use a mouse (temperary) or use my USB keypad to enter in the selection # (like old jukeboxes)<Album #1-4><Song #00-19><enter>.

When I just use the default skin, it lists them alphabetically by Artist->Song (ID3 values or filenames - INI selectable). There is an 'SongSort' INI setting for CD-based skins to sort by: Artist name, Album name, or random. There are also default (INI determined) Album names and Artist names for files without that information.

Hope this helps!

[Draco1962]

I had tried it a while back, but testing from a Win 7 system it did not seem to like the newer OS. Or it could just be me and something I missed.

[Adultery]

I thought the singles view might be more effective in my case... There aren't too many cases where I like a whole CD anyways, and I was really hoping for a more retro feel with modern components if you know what I mean.

I should be able to build a panel with extra buttons I ordered and looking at that I only need 14 or so buttons, a power switch, and an iPac2 (it will be in juke mode all the time unless I reboot, and I can use a mouse in the external USB hub I'll cut into the side of the box with the card reader). I think my AMD Sempron 3000+ board can handle most of the load (the board only supports 1GB of RAM), and it will run XP as an OS. I will also be using a PCI card for the video if this thing isn't too demanding visually. I was also gonna build in the X-Fi external sound card I already have laying around doing nothing so I have volume control mounted outside the box as opposed to doing it with a button on the CP (haven't fully decided how I want to handle this yet).

I was also wondering if it had some sort of screen saver for when it's not playing music? Random music playing like the bars do wouldn't be a good thing in my situation, and it would be nice if it did something while it was idle. Like I mentioned earlier, I will be leaving it go all the time anyways (maybe the monitor goes to sleep or something?)

Also, is network sharing out of the question with this software? Currently my library streams all over the house from my arcade cabinet. Not that a nice beefy HDD is expensive nowadays anyways...

I think that covers everything!

Thanks again for all your help.

[Draco1962]

Would think that there may be a decent visualization style screensaver that would work nicely with your jukebox.

[ehuonder]

I know what you mean regarding the retro feel. I chose it over the more modern Media Streamers for that reason. I just ended up going with the CD sorting to help organize. I do like the default Jukebox skin, but it wanted more songs on the screen at the same time...

My game cabinet uses an Mini-Pac and all the custom buttons. For this Jukebox, I'm still designing/building it, but I'm cheating and just mounting a USB Number pad as my buttons ($10 for 18-button keypad). Mine is strictly a stand alone jukebox (network jack is broken). I think your PCI card will be fine for graphics. This software uses the Allegro SW library which doesn't have a lot of high power or 3D graphics built into it (great little 2D game programming library for WinXP and older). I like the external volume idea. I've always liked analog dials for volume versus +/- buttons.

The SW does have a screen saver, but I haven't used it yet. So I can't say much about it. It also supports slide shows, but I haven't used those either.

As far as network sharing, if you mean just sharing a HD on the network, I'm sure it's intended to work. I haven't tried it since my machine doesn't support a network connection. I think my crashing problem is more related to MY old USB drive, not the SW ability to access external drives (USB or Network). But, this SW does not (to my knowledge) support the newer streaming protocols.

Good luck! Post a picture when you're done.

[Draco1962]

ehuonder - have you considered networking your cab using powerline ethernet? I have purchased a few modules and tested with my Xbox 360 and the speed is pretty constant. I will probably purchase some more modules and place them in my living room and anywhere else I don't want to climb in the attic and fish wires through the walls. I think there are a few others use this solution where their cabs are not in a favorable location for wired or wireless ethernet.

[Adultery]

Does this method just use your electric wiring in your house to make your network instead of using a hub?

Wish I would have thought about that, but I already have my house wired now. It was probably a lot cheaper in the long run (although a big roll of Cat-5e and your own tools really made it possible for a low price and adds value to my house since every room is wired now).

[Draco1962]

If you have the will and the ability, wired ethernet is probably a lot better and cheaper. if you ever upgrade from 10/100 to gigbyte it is just a matter of replacing routers and switches adn upgrading your NICs on connected devices to take advantage of the increased throughput. Ethernet over powerline does have some limitations.

The further away from the source, the slower the throughout can be. Works best if on the same circuit - different circuits within the same dwelling again will affect throughput. It still seems be be much faster than wireless from the results I am getting within the same electrical circuit and will be fine when used in other parts of the house. Likely will use it in the living room for connecting the flat screen & DVD (kids bought us a 46" Samsung for Christmas and a Blu-Ray player to boot) for streaming Netflix and the like.

[Adultery]

I want your kids please! All I got was a crummy sweater and some cheap aftershave!

So if you have an unattached garage say, does it reach out there too? Or is it just the house's grid? You need a module at each outlet too right? Or is there like a special outlet you can wire in? Sounds almost like the wave of the future!

[Draco1962]

Is your unattached garage going through the same electric meter or does it have its own? If on the same as the house, then still part of the house "grid." You will need one module for your router to plug into and one module to plug into a household electrical outlet at each location to connect into the network.

P.S. You can't have 'em! PITAs that they are sometimes, not givin' 'em up!