I work at a major chain restaraunt that uses a special satellite radio receiver. Because of the rather limited selection, I tend to hear the song "Cheeseburger In Paradise" about three times a day.

The iTunes Jukebox would be a simple computer connected to the Apple iTunes music store, or a similar service. The customer would search for a particular song by title, artist, genre, etc. then buy the song from between 25 cents and one dollar. The customer would only have to pay for the one-time right to play the song, plus whatever markup the company wanted.

This sceme would eliminate the monotany of pre-rendered playlists and limited CD selection. The iTunes system would also satisfy the copyright holders. Copyright laws might have to adjust a little, but it wouldn't be much more complex than regular jukeboxes in this regard.
-- discontinuuity, Aug 13 2005

NetJukeBox NetJukeBox
Similar idea using CD uploads and P2P networks [discontinuuity, Aug 13 2005]

Apple iTunes http://www.apple.com/itunes/
Apple's iTunes music store [discontinuuity, Aug 13 2005]

I like this idea. But, assuming I've read this correctly and that it would be restaurant patrons rather than the restaurant that pays for the songs, wouldn't the quality and variety be dependant upon the customers' choice of music. When those annoying yet amazingly popular songs come out, you would probably still have to hear them quite frequently.
-- hidden truths, Sep 18 2005


There should be public ipods like public telephones. As soon as the government and Apple realize how much money they can make off these they will replace parking meters. Speaking of which, city governments should install public email-IM stations like public telephones. It wouldn't be too expensive, you could have one CPU with four screens per station.
-- JesusHChrist, Sep 18 2005


[hidden] I've been to restaurants that have a separate jukebox at each table and it works surprisingly well, I think because the seat back benches are really high so sound doesn't travel from one booth to the next.
-- JesusHChrist, Sep 18 2005



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