If you're thinking about creating your own jukebox similar to the one described on this site, the custom programs that I've written could be problem. You're welcome to a copy of them, but they're not for the faint-hearted, and I certainly wouldn't recommend them to anyone who isn't familiar with HTML, Perl, CGI, and JavaScript.

Alternatively you could make a jukebox along similar lines as the minimal jukebox but with no custom software. By "similar lines" I mean that you'd have the same or broadly similar hardware, and you'd still operate the jukebox using the web browser of the Dell Mini (or similar) wireless remote control. But the screens you'd see would be different because you'd be using off-the-shelf software in place of the software that I've written. I've called this jukebox "Jukebox Lite", and the rest of this page describes its working.

I should stress that "Jukebox Lite" is simply an idea, not a working system. By all means give the idea a try (and tell me how you get on), but don't expect everything to fit together seamlessly.

As a substitute for the software I've written, I'm proposing two alternative alternatives: "BrowseAmp" and "SlimServer". You might or might not like the web pages served up by these programs, which are entirely different from our jukebox, and not optimised for the small screens of the remote controls used. You can try the features out free before deciding to invest in hardware or other software.

The two tables below list the hardware and software components of the minimal jukebox, and show what their "Jukebox Lite" equivalents would be:

Hardware
"Minimal Jukebox"	"Jukebox Lite" (BrowseAmp version)	"Jukebox Lite" (SlimServer version)
Windows PC with large hard disk, high quality sound card, and Internet connection while adding CDs	Yes	Yes
Wireless Access Point	Yes	Yes
Audio amplifier and speakers	Yes	Yes
CAT5 patch cable to link the WAP to the PC	Yes	Yes
Twin coaxial audio cable to link the PC to the amplifier	Yes	Yes
For the remote control, a WiFi-enabled super-PDA with an 800x600 screen and a web browser	Yes	Yes

As you can see the hardware is just the same. Optionally you could incorporate some of the many enhancements described for our jukebox.

Software
"Minimal Jukebox"	"Jukebox Lite" (BrowseAmp version)	"Jukebox Lite" (SlimServer version)
EAC	Yes	Yes
Windows Media Encoder	Yes	Yes
J River Media Center	Yes	Yes
Database Converter	No	No
ActivePerl	No	No
JPEG Resizer	No	No
Apache HTTP server	No: use Browseamp instead	No: use SlimServer instead
WinAmp	Yes	Yes: or use SoftSqueeze instead
httpQ	No	No

BrowseAmp is a plug-in for Winamp that acts as a web server, serving up pages for the user to select tracks and control the player. Instead of selecting music by a variety of methods powered by a database (as in our jukebox), you navigate through the Windows folders and files in which the music is stored. This method is rather limiting, and for best results it's important to make sure that the folder structure is carefully designed (e.g. "Genre\Artist\Album\Track number - Track Title") and rigidly adhered to. See below for a screenshot and a component diagram:

SlimServer is a part of the Slim Devices family of products that includes the well-known Squeezebox media streamer. It's an Open Source web server that compiles a database of your music collection using the tags embedded in the music files, serves up web pages to allow you to select the music you want, and provides player controls. You don't need any other Slim Devices products and it's a free download. It has many design features in common with our jukebox, even down to a split screen with music selection on the left (starting with "Home") and a player on the right.

The SlimServer comes with a variety of "skins". Many of the skins (including the default skin) look positively awful to me, but some don't look bad at all. If desired, anyone with HTML and CSS skills could tweak an existing skin or create a new one. The displays aren't optimised for a netbook-sized display, so navigation is not at all easy - lots of scrolling needed.

As you'll see from the screenshot below, SlimServer also does Internet Radio. Although not underlined, the yellow words and symbols are links that lead to other pages or act on the player.

SlimServer needs client software to receive its output stream and forward it to the sound card. Among the options are SoftSqueeze (another free download: a software emulation of the Squeezebox), and WinAmp. I'd look closely at the streaming format to ensure that adequate quality was maintained.