The Selection Accumulator; a Jukebox's Brain technology connections

Astute viewers will notice that it's been much longer than a week since the last video.
In light of everything going on in the real world right now, I hope this can serve as a meaningful distraction. I, as I'm sure is the case for many of you as well, am unsettled by a lot and it's hard to work, or even just think. I have never felt that I've been an anxious person, and now I'm learning what real anxiety is.
This pinned comment surely doesn't mean much, but to everyone watching; please be safe. Make as many technology connections with loved ones as you can, and keep your chin up.

The amount of labor involved in building this thing is amazing. How many dimes did it take before the machine paid for itself?

I've been staring at these schematics for hours ,and my brain hurts. This is something I remember from trying to sort out an electro mechanical injection moulding machine. And it was in Italian. I feel Alec's pain on this one.

4:44 just plug it with the usb on the bottom left corner

Hi there, great series of videos. A subject for you to explore maybe. A bank of capacitors used as a memory! Back in the dark ages 1969 I had a machine to service from a company called “Uster- Zelweiger” or maybe the other way round. In the cotton mill laboratory they had a yarn tester that recorded the thick and thin faults of cotton being spun. It recorded by a bank of rotary switches driven by a small electric motor, each switch had maybe 20 contacts connected to 20 capacitors, there were maybe 8 switches on the common shaft. The switches were Bakelite filled with oil. It was called “ Uster evenness tester”
I can’t find any references on the net.

To me, it makes perfect sense to not call the sites a and b, because from the jukeboxes point of view, you cant tell what site a and b might be. That totally depends on how the disc is putted in. If you flip it, sites are swapped.

props to thanking ur parents… and i thought mine were cool for letting me have directtv with paper route money!

I'm a software engineer. This totally boggles my mind. Mechanical programmers were very clever.

GREAT video. As a former mechanic/electrician, i followed your descriptions very easily. My question is what will happen if you select a song that was previously selected by a previous customer? Will the machine 'reject' the selection or will it "steal" a credit and only play the song once for two different credits? this may have happened in say a busy bar/restaurant where many different customers choose songs.

I've seen some of your videos through YouTube's suggestions over several months occasionally and after a few videos I decided to subscribe. Well after powering through many of your videos over several days (all of which i enjoyed) I found this two video series to be my favorite by far. From the actual item in question to the flow and descriptions these just stood out to me and became my favorites. Keep doing what your doing!

So if i understand right, this jukebox doesn't play the records in order they are selected but in order they are on the carousel? I remember other models also played records in the order they are selected.

I love old technology. really makes you wonder how the hell they even built it

not a series of "buttons," but certainly a series of "switches."

This thing is so cool and I'm very envious of you

I'm so glad to find this. I've been looking for an answer about how jukeboxes from when I was a kid (late 60s) worked without any logic. Brilliant!

I like that you acknowledge the fact that not every YouTube users (Premium) see cards.

Brilliant video!! I wish you were my neighbor. I'd enjoy talking with you. Lol

It is a computer. Computers should compute but what is to compute? To reach a result one must get variables and deal with 'data structure'. Can a computer that just compare things calculate? Yes, it can – all you have to do is write all calculations on a table (just as Richard Feynman explains on a video somewhere). I must note, however, that we use the word "computer" in the sense of "general purpose automated computer machine". In the past, a computer was someone who did calculations (like those under Feynman during the Manhattan Project). In the past, women did this, mostly, and the word computer, in Spanish is feminine. BTW, that's why a woman was responsible for keeping the Mark I running and found the first computer bug. The Mark I, btw, was not a general purpose computer.

One way you could look at this is that this entire unit IS a giant computer chip. Modern computers are still essentially nothing more than a whole BUNCH of microscopic relays – and the order of operations is done not by physical movement of switches, arms and solenoids but by variations in voltage, resistance and signal wave types – and the selection process from button to rotating selector arm replaced with lines of code instead.

I have the Wurlitzer 3300 and I need a little help understanding how to fix it, due to a moving situation I currently do not have it with me but I would like to know if I can get it contact with you so that when I do get it back in my possession I can properly fix it, thanks

The 3100 was the new one when I worked on them. I saw some difference between the one I worked on and this one. The biggest problem we had was that most of the Jukebox were in bars, drunks think everyone and everything drink. And when they put there drinks in the coin slot things stop working the way they should. Also drinks in the buttons gets sticky and they don't work. Remember the way the buttons work with the relays, what happens when all the drinks get in the buttons and the springs can't push them back out, because the drunks thought that the Jukebox needed a drink. They get very sticky and don't pop back out. So you can say that if you give your Jukebox drinks they get drunk and do stupid things. Then I had to go out and get them to work again. No Coffee didn't help! LOL!

While playing a record, you can keep dropping quarters and making more selections, how does it play those selections in the order they plugged in? Or does it just take the next one it finds on the pin wheel?