Tunes at a Touch

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We were on our way to Minnesota and stopped for lunch at a little town in Indiana, the kind with the court house in the center square of town, surrounded by stores. There was only one eatery, so we went in. The town, the cafe, and the food were nondescript. When the waitress came to take our order, she couldn’t hear us because the music was so loud. She called over to the manager behind the bar, asking him to turn the music down. Thankfully, he responded, and that’s when I saw a flashy contraption on the back wall. It was about four feet tall and three feet wide. One of the customers kept going over to it, choosing music. Between songs, words flashed on the screen announcing that you could download the app and choose music from your table. Wow! It was an electronic jukebox! Before we left, I asked if they minded if I took a picture of it. The manager was pleased to show me all the menus on the flat screen and explained that you could put a dollar bill in the slot for three songs or pay with your phone.

When a song was playing, its video showed on the screen. Volume bars danced across the top, and the title scrolled across. The menu said you could hear 80 songs for $20. We could have tasted everything on the menu in that amount of time.

Volume bars at the top

I feel sure the e-jukebox has been around for a while, but it was the first time I saw one. As a hearing-challenged oldster, I wondered if I could pay through the app to lower the volume. I could have had a bidding war with the customer who chose the music. I’d lower it; he’d raise it. Competition would be the name of the game.

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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29 thoughts on “Tunes at a Touch”

  3. I could have had a ball in there if it wasn’t Country Music but I don’t think I’d have stayed for $20 as that’s in excess of four hours. I wouldn’t have played from my phone as I’d enjoy putting my money in a salot and making my choices. Great looking machine.
    Huge Hugs

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  10. Well, you’re one up on me, I’ve never seen one and I live in California! With entertainment being our middle name, you’d think … but then I don’t get out much like you folks do. I’ll have to look for it.

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  11. An Electronic juke box? Thanks for sharing its picture- it looks cool. Here, the singer or the bartender decides the songs that are played. We don’t see a jukebox.
    Susie

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  12. Wow – how modern Anne. When I worked at the diner, we had a jukebox and the price at that time (1973-1978) was a quarter for three songs. Inflation! At Christmastime we had a handful of tunes and everyone loved “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee – by the end of my shift I swore if I heard the song one more time I’d scream. But I enjoyed having the jukebox the rest of the time – sometimes after we had a big “rush” my boss would put a couple of quarters in and ask what songs we wanted to hear – he said we cleaned up faster. 🙂 I should have included that nugget in my memories at the diner post. There was a song “Linda on my Mind” and when it was popular people would say “have you heard this song – I’ll play it for you.” I could sing it in my sleep. You brought back some fun times for me Anne. Continued safe travels to you and John and enjoy your family gathering.

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      1. That jukebox was a constant source of entertainment while I was there. The owner’s daughter, Linda, was just a little tyke and she’d come in with her father and he’d hand me a $5.00 bill for both of us to play the jukebox. That was 60 songs … it kept us going most of the day. Safe travels home to you and John.

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          1. I was movin’ to the music as I bustled about the diner – I’ll bet I put five miles on my feet in those days! (And still had energy to do other things, though I used to nod off trying to study as I had to be on the diner floor by 6:45 a.m.)

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              1. Thanks for saying that, but truthfully the manager of the diner was such a nice man that he seemed like a grandfather to me, so working there seemed like fun sometimes. I know that sounds odd, but most of my classmates had jobs in retail and they did not enjoy their jobs – I had all the regular customers who came in to chat – knew about their lives, they knew about mine – would ask about school, tests and I stayed there another six months after college so my boss did not have to find a weekend person until he retired. He was in his 80s I think – he only retired as our owner was murdered and the new owner wanted it to be a family business only.

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