Electric Jukebox was a digital media player developed by The Electric Jukebox Company. Designed as a dongle, and a "Nintendo Wii style" motion-sensitive controller with a built-in microphone for voice search, the device played music audio content on a high-definition television and home audio system by directly streaming it via Wi-Fi from the Internet. Electric Jukebox combined hardware, software and premium music streaming access into one package; Ars Technica described it as "a box with everything you need to get started in streaming music".
Hardware
Electric Jukebox stick
Electric Jukebox dongle had a HDMI plug built into the body of the device. The dongle was powered by mains power through an integrated power cable. Electric Jukebox ran on a Rockchip processor. The dongle contained a 3.5mm audio jack as a line out to HiFi’s and speaker systems.
Electric Jukebox controller
Electric Jukebox Controller was a motion sensitive remote control with built-in gyroscope and accelerometer to position itself in space in relation to the cursor on the TV screen. The controller also had a microphone for voice search. The controller used HDMI-CEC protocols to switch between other devices on the television without needing to use the television set’s remote to change to or from Electric Jukebox.
Software
Electric Jukebox ran on a heavily modified version of the Android operating system. The front end user interface was built in HTML5 enabling OTA updates which negate users from having to perform software upgrades or app downloads normally required when using music streaming services on computers, smartphones and televisions.
User interface
Electric Jukebox’s user interface incorporated neoniconography and music songs and albums represented as spinning disks - a digital manifestation of a physical music product; a CD. The user interface was met with mixed reaction from commentators; several technology focused media outlets have said the user interface is overly simple in comparison to other services while mainstream consumer media view the simplicity of Electric Jukebox as opening up music streaming to audiences who are alienated by the complexities of music streaming. CNET commented “Here's an easy way to think about Electric Jukebox: Remember when the Nintendo Wiicame out, and suddenly the whole family, who didn't know their Atari from their elbow, was jumping around the living room playing video games? Spotify is the PlayStation, Sonos is the Xbox -- and Electric Jukebox is the Wii.”
Features
Voice search
The Electric Jukebox controller's built-in microphone provided access to the full catalogue of music. Voice activated functionality was provided by Nuance.
