No,I don’t mean the album of the same name by Sheryn Regis (the cover of which features a stunning antique jukebox and is worth taking a look at). I’m talking about the modern day jukebox. What have the Wurlitzers and the Seeburgs evolved into? What have the modern designs retained from the original jukeboxes? What has been discarded as passe or surplus to requirements?

Most modern jukeboxes have replaced the classic transparent panel showing the inner working of the disc changing mechanism for an LCD screen. The LCD screen is used for song selection and video display. In commercial jukeboxes the LCD screen is also used for advertising.

The recorded music medium varies according to owner requirements. CDs are still commonly used but the music can also be stored on a hard drive in the form of mp3s (or a similar file format). The latest digital internet jukeboxes offer an accessible online library of over 200,000 songs. So modern jukeboxes can store vastly more songs than their ancestors.

The aesthetic styling of modern jukeboxes is still very much a tribute to the Golden and Silver Age jukeboxes. They have plastic or wood cabinets, neon or other coloured lighting, bubbles and the large circular dome of the classic Wurlitzer is regularly the basis for the shape of the jukebox. This is scaled up or down depending on the type of the jukebox.

A recent addition to the design of the jukebox is stylised artwork, pictures of famous music artists or nostalgic scenes that can be easily tailored to the owners requirements or musical taste and helps to invoke the desired atmosphere.

Music videos are frequently featured in the larger commercial models that have LCD screens. The videos are usually stored on DVDs and are shown while their song is being played.

Commercial jukeboxes come loaded with user friendly features that work for the benefit of the owner of the establishment in which the jukebox resides. A great feature is a limit to the number of times a song can be played in a row to limit “Nuisance Players”. I’m sure we’re all guilty of this.

The modern jukebox can be remote controlled which harks back to the mini boxes that would allow diners to select songs from their table.

The original jukeboxes had counters which counted the number of plays per record to determine what was popular and what was not making the owner any money. The modern jukebox allows the owner to download information from the internet about each song, compile statistics on popularity using software and update their library at the touch of a button.

The music library can be edited with great ease, using administrator screens the owner can delete or add music very easily. Some models allow the user to download songs from an external hard drive which is slightly more cumbersome but certainly easier than opening up the cabinet and swapping records!

The mp3 songs can also be stored on an internal hard drive that has the benefit of massive memory capabilities and also enables wall mount-ability with ease due to its light weight.