Real Jukebox

[Montray Yadav]

Thejukebox software provided by the people at real.com is available for free - if you download the Basic version, rather than the plus version, which costs $29.99. Be warned: the basic version is increasingly difficult to find on their web site, but it is there.

On playback, Real Jukebox sometimes clips the ends off files, gives slight high frequency errors on many files, and has poor low level accuracy (see the 16-bit LSB test). These things may or may not be audible. It also inverts the waveform - a few people claim to be able to perceive this.

When writing to CD, Real Jukebox decodes mp3s faultlessly on-the-fly. My only concern is the use of "Track-at-once" mode: this inserts a 2-second gap between the audio tracks on the CD. There is also a consensus that it is better to write audio discs in disc-at-once mode: all "real" CDs are mastered in an equivalent manner to disc-at-once. However, I've yet to find a CD player that rejected track-at-once discs, so this concern may not be relevant.

RealJukebox is an audio playback, management and CD ripping application created by RealNetworks in the late nineties.

Also, it is a complete piece of garbage.

The interface is garish - as you would expect from any software created by RealNetworks (from now on, RN). Way too many buttons, too much information on screen, unnecessary textures, and oh, what's that? An advertisement? So lovely!

There is also a handful of skins to make the interface a little less horrid, but they do not achieve great success in that endeavor either.

Now, the encoder... RN had just purchased Xing Tech, so they had a pretty decent and fast MP3 encoder in their hands. Unfortunately, they decided to cripple it to drive sales of the paid version, RealJukebox Plus (US$ 29.99, also available here). Therefore, the MP3 encoder only works at 56, 64 and 96kbps. Other bitrates require Plus.

But do not despair, lad! You can rip "CD quality" files with RealJukebox, you only need to accept RN's useless RealAudio format for that (actually, that is scrambled Sony ATRAC3 inside the Real Media container). You can actually go from 32kbps all the way to 352kbps then, but good luck playing these files anywhere besides RealJukebox itself.

Anyway, there is more to be said about the application. It is incredibly intrusive: the free version installs Real Player - without asking first - and plasters your desktop, start menu and even the Internet Explorer favorites with offers for AOL and similar crap. It tries to steal your file associations and installs TWO resident programs in your system tray that exist only to keep the file associations stolen and send you notifications about RN products (I can only imagine how awesome these were) and steal system resources and make your life miserable.

Additionally, the application engaged in wholesale privacy violations. RN only patched RealJukebox and updated the privacy policy to reflect all the data collection after being caught red handed.

Last, it would not be RN if they were not kowtowing to corporate interests. RealJukebox offers (nah, insists) to "protect" (that is, encrypt) the songs it rips from CDs so that you can not share them with your friends. When you try to disable this great feature, an ominous warning pops up asking if you are really sure you want to be seen as a criminal.

Please do not install RealJukebox or any software from RealNetworks.

Date: 2000-11-09

Version: 2 Plus (Includes Real Player 8 Plus)

Interface: Bloated

Platform: Win32

Download: realjukeboxplus_v2.zip - 8.526kB

Kindly contributed by Richard Birch

Date: 2000-11-09

Version: 2

Interface: Bloated

Platform: Win32

Download: rjukebox20.exe - 9.152kB

Roberto Amorim. This is a sister site of RareWares

Our jukeboxes reflect the iconic retro styling of the original 1940s and 50s models but we give them a contemporary twist to ensure they fit seamlessly with modern homes and lifestyles. Choose your favourite cabinet style and finish, pick from CD, vinyl or digital technologies, then select Add-Ons and 'Custom Shop' options to make your jukebox unique. Our team of highly skilled craftsmen and women will then hand-build a dream machine, just for you.

Sound Leisure was founded by Alan Black in 1978 and is now a third generation family-owned business with over 4 decades experience in the design and manufacture of jukeboxes. When you buy a Sound Leisure Classic Jukebox you join our family; a group of likeminded individuals who understand and appreciate the skill, energy, dedication and care that goes into the production of every single jukebox. We value our customers and take pride in welcoming them into the fold.

Our jukeboxes and the technologies that go into them, have been tried and tested over 40 years in some of the hardest working commercial locations on the planet, so you can enjoy a trouble free ownership experience at home.

Our Custom Shop service can turn a Sound Leisure Classic jukebox model into a entirely unique, bespoke work of art just for you. From simple personalisation such as a jukebox name plate featuring your family name or moto, to fully customised jukebox design featuring dozens of customisations. We work with individuals, companies and brands around the world to create one off jukebox dreams! For more information please visit our Custom Shop page or contact us.

When I was young I always wanted a jukebox for my 45s. I fantasized about owning a stand-alone jukebox - a giant, glowing mechanical marvel, filled with 100 carefully chosen 45s, with A-sides and B-sides listed through the glass, and with enough bass in its built-in speakers to shake loose all the Formica in a 1950s-era diner. It's good that I never owned one, though, because a real jukebox would have ground my 45s to a powder. Jukeboxes have heavy tonearms that made sure the records didn't skip, but at the expense of the records themselves.

Around 2009 or 2010, I got an idea for a weekly feature on Crap From The Past. I'd call it Ron's Dream Jukebox. Every week I'd pick a new 45 to populate my Dream Jukebox and play it on the show. I realized that if I timed the feature to start around my 43rd birthday, I'd complete my Dream Jukebox with 100 45s around my 45th birthday. And what better way to celebrate turning 45 than with a fully stocked jukebox that truly features a turning 45?

I even gave the Ron's Dream Jukebox feature its own jingle, by repurposing a catchy, seven-second-long jingle mysteriously included on the third Stars on 45 album: "Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo/Listen to the Stars on Forty-Fi-i-i-ive." I think the jingle uses a vocal bridge originally recorded for an abrupt drop in tempo in the Stars on 45's Stevie Wonder single. Regardless of its origin, I gleefully made it my own for the two years of the Ron's Dream Jukebox feature.

I knew which 45 I'd start with, in spot A-1 on the Jukebox (just like the Dave Edmunds song), and which 45 I'd finish with, in spot A-100. But I deliberately refrained from picking the other 98 songs in advance, choosing instead to select one song a week as I went. And so Crap From The Past unspooled Ron's Dream Jukebox over the course of two full years, one 45 at a time. Out of every feature I've ever done on the show, I'm most proud of Ron's Dream Jukebox.

My only constraint was that the song had to be available on a 7-inch single, somewhere in the world. It makes sense; a real jukebox couldn't play the song if it wasn't on a 45. But I also chose to select only actual 45s for a more practical reason: You're more likely to have heard of the song if it was released as a single. I wanted listeners to recognize (and hopefully like) the songs in the Jukebox. That's the point of 45-RPM singles: mass appeal (or at least attempted mass appeal). Otherwise, the list of Jukebox songs could have ended up as just another list of songs that some guy likes but you've never heard of. Not very interesting.

Fortunately for me (and everyone!), my tastes veer strongly toward pop songs. The 100 songs in Ron's Dream Jukebox really do represent my favorite songs in all of recorded history. You've heard some of them a thousand times, you've heard some others only once, and you've never heard a handful of them. I can assure you, though, that all are worthwhile, and all are worth hunting down. I stake my Craptastic reputation on it.

In the first few years that I listened to the radio, I liked a lot of songs, and loved a few. Then, in 1986, I heard "Something About You" for the first time, and finally, at age eighteen, I had a favorite song! What a great 45: the effortless melody, the understated arrangement, the irresistible bassline from Mark King, the light-as-air harmonies, and even a terrific B-side (an instrumental version of an album track called "Coup D'Etat"). For my college years, Level 42 was my favorite band, making me an extremely small minority among my Peter Gabriel/Steve Winwood/U2-loving friends. The UK and US versions of Level 42's World Machine CD had different track listings, so naturally I bought both. Like virtually all of my true favorite songs, this one never packed a dancefloor, but it sounded fantastic on the drive home from the club. If you don't know Level 42, start with the best-of Level Best (1989), then pick up the full-length albums World Machine (1985) and Running in the Family (1987). Look for the original '80s-era CD releases on Polydor, which have spectacular sound. Their earlier stuff is more jammy, less poppy, and their later stuff isn't as well written as these two albums, but it's all worthwhile. After all, they were my favorite band for a while.

Why wasn't this a hit when it came out in 1979? It had an immediate, breakneck, three-piece arrangement held together by the bass playing of Graham Maby, as well as razor-sharp lyrics and one of Joe Jackson's catchiest melodies to date. It had the full support of A&M Records, following quickly on the heels of the Look Sharp album, which spawned the fluke hit "Is She Really Going Out with Him." In hindsight, maybe the song was just too grown-up for radio. I remember seeing Joe Jackson perform "I'm the Man" on some TV show in 1979 (Solid Gold?), and I remember not quite understanding it. I was eleven, after all. The 45 is an (unnecessary) early fade of the LP version, but still brilliant. If you're new to Joe Jackson, I recommend A&M's Stepping Out: The Very Best of (1990), which has the full LP length of "I'm the Man," and his 1979 debut album, Look Sharp (1979), which came out a few months before "I'm the Man." There are two '80s-era CD pressings of Look Sharp - look for the one running 36:32; avoid an earlier one running 36:40, which has a one-sample offset that desynchronizes its left and right channels.

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