Mp3 Jukebox

I'm in an interesting situation. I belong to a fraternity at a top
universtiy and I am in charge of putting together a new "jukebox" for
listening, parties, etc... The problem is that it needs to be as easy
to use and as "clean" or "slick" as possible. By "clean" and "slick" I
mean something that very intoxicated people can use to find their
favorite song, and also something that will organize all the songs on
the hard drives by almost any possible cateogory. Our current jukebox
is a ****ty laptop that runs windows xp and itunes. While this will
suffice for now, A) it is not very pretty , B) it looks extremely nerdy
to be using a visible computer for a jukebox, C) the laptop offers
limited storage, D) Windows XP strikes me as overkill for such a simple
job. Literally all I need for the computer to do is to play mp3s. If
there is a software program that would allow for steaming and/or
addition of music over a network that would be a bonus, but the main
goal is to play mp3 through some kick ass homebuilt speakers (yeah
DIY!!!). Ok so now that I have rambled on for a while, what distro of
linux would be a good start? What is the easiest way to completely
strip linux of everything that is not necessary to complete my above
stated goals. I really would like to buy the cheapest computer possible
(as far as cpu, ram, and motherboard) so that i can spend more money on
storage and the sound card. I have some expierence with linux, but it
is limited. Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.

Alex Donnelly wrote:
I'm in an interesting situation. I belong to a fraternity at a top
universtiy and I am in charge of putting together a new "jukebox" for
listening, parties, etc... The problem is that it needs to be as easy
to use and as "clean" or "slick" as possible. By "clean" and "slick" I
mean something that very intoxicated people can use to find their
favorite song, and also something that will organize all the songs on
the hard drives by almost any possible cateogory. Our current jukebox
is a ****ty laptop that runs windows xp and itunes. While this will
suffice for now, A) it is not very pretty , B) it looks extremely nerdy
to be using a visible computer for a jukebox, C) the laptop offers
limited storage, D) Windows XP strikes me as overkill for such a simple
job. Literally all I need for the computer to do is to play mp3s. If
there is a software program that would allow for steaming and/or
addition of music over a network that would be a bonus, but the main
goal is to play mp3 through some kick ass homebuilt speakers (yeah
DIY!!!). Ok so now that I have rambled on for a while, what distro of
linux would be a good start? What is the easiest way to completely
strip linux of everything that is not necessary to complete my above
stated goals. I really would like to buy the cheapest computer possible
(as far as cpu, ram, and motherboard) so that i can spend more money on
storage and the sound card. I have some expierence with linux, but it
is limited. Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.

I'm sorry I can't just give you a name. I would begin, though, by
browsing this list:

http://freshmeat.net/search/?link=fr....net&q=jukebox

Alex Donnelly:

I really would like to buy the cheapest computer possible

http://mjs.sourceforge.net/

--
Mac Cool

"Alex Donnelly" wrote in message roups.com...
I'm in an interesting situation. I belong to a fraternity at a top
universtiy and I am in charge of putting together a new "jukebox" for
listening, parties, etc... The problem is that it needs to be as easy
to use and as "clean" or "slick" as possible. By "clean" and "slick" I
mean something that very intoxicated people can use to find their
favorite song, and also something that will organize all the songs on
the hard drives by almost any possible cateogory. Our current jukebox
is a ****ty laptop that runs windows xp and itunes. While this will
suffice for now, A) it is not very pretty , B) it looks extremely nerdy
to be using a visible computer for a jukebox, C) the laptop offers
limited storage, D) Windows XP strikes me as overkill for such a simple
job. Literally all I need for the computer to do is to play mp3s. If
there is a software program that would allow for steaming and/or
addition of music over a network that would be a bonus, but the main
goal is to play mp3 through some kick ass homebuilt speakers (yeah
DIY!!!). Ok so now that I have rambled on for a while, what distro of
linux would be a good start? What is the easiest way to completely
strip linux of everything that is not necessary to complete my above
stated goals. I really would like to buy the cheapest computer possible
(as far as cpu, ram, and motherboard) so that i can spend more money on
storage and the sound card. I have some expierence with linux, but it
is limited. Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.

My recommendations for simple Jukebox:
1. Install Dos 7.10 - It has Mpxplay within, supports long filenames
and NTFS.
http://newdos.yginfo.net/msdos71/

2. Damn Small Linux bootable cd.
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

3. Knoppix bootable cd.
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

With Dos 7.0 and Mpxplay you can make really easy and simple Jukebox.
It can be even fit on bootable floppy. If you want it to play
automatically all mp3-files on your hard drive(s) you just put
scanning of all harddrives on the booting scrpt.

E.g. add the following lines to the end of autoexec.bat:
dir /b /s C:\*.mp3 c:\playlist.m3u
mpxplay c:\playlist.m3u

Bootable Linux cds do not need anything to be installed on hdd and
they usually regocknise equipment quite well. You could also remaster
the cd to run MP3 player software automatically on booting.

-Jari