Jukehead software

MANUAL (version 1.0.33 – February 5, 2023)

Installation Windows
Download Windows version here.
Unzip the file and copy the Jukehead folder to the Program files folder. Inside this folder is the Jukehead.exe program. If you’re updating a previous version: you can override all files with the downloaded ones, al data and settings are safely stored elsewhere.

Installation Mac
Download Mac version here.
Unzip the file and copy the Jukehead program to your Apps or Programs folder. If you’re updating a previous version: you can override all files with the downloaded ones, al data and settings are safely stored elsewhere.

When you run Jukehead for the first time, it might be possible that Windows/Mac OS-X prevents you to run it (“developer not verified/unknown download location, bla bla…”) but you can ignore this. On Mac, you can RIGHT-click the program file and choose OPEN from the menu. You’ll get a warning: again choose OPEN. This normally happens once.

Labels folder location/name
You might want to relocate and/or rename your labels folder so you have easier access to them. I suggest you move it to your Documents folder and rename it Jukehead labels. If you consider this, do it now because once you start linking labels to songs Jukehead will create links in the database to the location of these labels and replacing the folder after that will break these links.

Check out the Facebook group to get updates on what’s happening with Jukehead!

First time use
When you run Jukehead for the first time, it will create a new database. You start with an empty database and are ready to enter your collection! The location & name of this database file is shown in the top of your screen. If you want, you can copy this file to a safer location like a Dropbox folder that has version history, so you can roll back if you should make an error or damage your database file. When you have moved your database file to such a folder, just drag & drop it on Jukehead’s interface and the software will remember it’s new location. The program will restart and use the new location from now on.
To move your database: choose pull down menu Maintenance -> Settings screen and choose “Show settings folder”. The database file is in there and it’s called Jukehead.rsd.

Jukebox(es)
Click on the button “Jukeboxes” in the top right of the main screen. Here you can describe your jukebox(es) and other possible locations for your records and assign a number and description for them. Each location will have it’s own number ranging from 1 to 97. Keep 0 for records that are not in a jukebox or specific location. Use 90 for your wish list and 98 is used for newly imported records, 99 is reserved for the trash can (deleted records until final deletion). You can also create locations here like “in the attic” or “on loan to Frank” and you’re free to use the remaining numbers for that.
Restart the program if you edited this list to update the pull down menu’s.

Entering records manually
In the bottom fields you can enter your records, the labels speak for themselves. Enter text and use your TAB key to jump to the next field. After you press “Save” it will be added to the database and you will see it show up in the list with a yellow background (unless you have a filter active that mutes it out). You can also edit existing records by clicking on them in the list, edit the data in the text fields in the bottom and then choose “Save”. Don’t forget to click “Save” to store your changes! After you do, the text fields are cleared and you can enter a new record. Button “New” will have the same effect, but without saving changes.

Entering records using the Discogs online database
You will need an active internet connection for this feature.
If you type in the catalogue number of the record and press enter (or button “Discg”), Jukehead will look up the number in the Discogs online music database and show you the first hit in the data fields and the remaining hits in the pull down menu next to the “Discg” button. You can select the correct version of this record and when you choose it, all info on that song will be entered in the fields so you won’t have to type it in. Using the catalogue number, Jukehead will also warn you if you try to save a record you already have in your database (based on similar catalogue numbers).

When you add (a part of) the artist or title in the entry fields with the green labels (“A-side” and “Artist”) Jukehead will add these as extra search criteria making your Discogs search results more effective. Use this if the catalogue number is short and gives you too many different results. You can also choose a result from the list that resembles your record and after that, click the “Discg” button again: sometimes you’ll get more versions of the song you’re looking for and you will find the correct version. It is even possible to only enter a title or artist without catalogue number to search Discogs. Fiddle with this and see what results you’ll get!
To see the Discogs page on the record you’ve selected, click on the “Discogs info” button on the right of the selection list.

The collection list
The central piece of your screen shows your collection list. When you start Jukehead, your whole collection is shown. You can manipulate the records shown in different ways. You can click on the header of a column to sort your records on that column. You can also pull the columns wider or more narrow at the headers and doing so from the most right side you can pull columns onto the screen that are hidden (Cat#, Discogs#). Jukehead will remember the settings of your column widths.

Using filters
You can use a filter to choose the records shown in the list. In the top of your screen you will find the tools for that, below the database path. In the most top left field you can type (part of) a title or artist to search for. The second filter is a pull down menu that lets you select records from a specific jukebox or location (wish list, imported, trash can, etc.). The third filter is a pull down menu that allows you to see only the Selected or Unselected records. This filter is useful for printing labels, exporting lists or just finding stuff in your collection. Next to that is a filter called “Year” that helps you select records from a specific year (fill in one field) or a period (fill in both fields, lowest year on the left side). Actions like printing labels or doing a “Mass edit” always work only on the records shown in your list.

Double
This selection will show records in yellow if you have more then one of the same, based on catalogue number.

Selected or unselected
Each record has a checkbox called “Selected”. This checkbox helps you make a selection of records to move to a jukebox, print labels for or export to a list. You can use the filter pull down menu “Only Selected” for that purpose. For making multiple selections quickly you can click the checkboxes in the column “Sel” in the listbox.

Labels for your jukebox
Jukehead already comes with a selection of label files, but you can add your own JPG or BMP files to that folder. I suggest using files with roughly the same width/height ratio as the ones that came with Jukehead.

To use an image file as a label, drag & drop it on Jukehead’s interface. If you have a filter active (the records in your list have a green background color) the label will be linked to the selected records only. If you don’t have a filter active (records have a grey background) the label will be used as general label, used for all records that do not have their own label linked. Jukehead will show the label linked to the selected song in the bottom right and use it to print your labels with. This label is shown in the real printing font and you can change the font, size and position in the settings screen, in the pull down menu Maintenance.

Print labels or list
From the pull down menu Print you can select these two options: print labels or Print list for the records currently shown in your list. Use the filters to manipulate the list. You can use the settings screen to change things like font, font size, label distance, etc. With the Y offset settings you can move the lines on your labels slightly up or down.

Export
With this pull down menu you can export a plain TXT file with the selection of records that is currently in your list. Use the filters to manipulate the list. This file, called Jukehead.txt will be copied to your desktop. You can also export a CSV file: this is a comma delimited file you can import in program’s like Excel, etc.

Importing a CSV file
Many of you already have your collection entered in Excel, Discogs or another piece of software. Most systems can export a “CSV” file. This is a text file with all data in it, separated by comma’s. Jukehead can import most CSV files and will put these records in the “98 Imported” location so you can manipulate all files with a mass edit or delete everything when the import went wrong without messing up your records that are already in Jukehead.

When you have created your CSV export file, start up Jukehead and choose “Import CSV file” from the pull down menu. You will see a new screen: choose the top button “Load CSV file”. You can now select a CSV file to import. After you have chosen the file, use the pull down menus to link the data fields (left) to a column of the CSV file (pull down menus on the right). The pull down menus sometimes contain understandable descriptions like “Artist” or “Year”, but they may also contain the actual data, like “Rolling Stones” or “1976”, that depends on the CSV file. Before you start the import, you can open the CSV file in a text editor or in Excel first to try and understand what each column is. This way you can separate the B-side from A-side, etc. When you are using a Discogs file, you may want to also read the next chapter (Importing your collection from Discogs), since that may require some extra actions.

After you have linked as many pull down menus as possible, click on the “Yes” button below. The “Yes” turns to “Import”, click the button again and Jukehead will start the import. This can take some time, especially on Windows systems (not sure why). I have seen nine minutes for a 3000 records collection imported on a Windows 8 laptop and ten seconds for the same collection on an Apple Silicon Mac. When the import is completed, Jukehead will bring you back to the main screen. You will notice that all imported records are now in the “98 Imported” location, so when you choose this filter in the top of your screen you will only see these records. You can then perform a mass edit on them (like move them all to “0 not in a jukebox” or to “99 Trash Can” when something went wrong with your import).

Importing your collection from Discogs
If you have your collection entered in Discogs, you can export that data to a CSV file on your computer. On the Discogs website, go to your collection and choose “Export” in the top menu. When you follow the instructions, you can download a file with the extension “CSV”. Now follow the instructions like described in the chapter “Importing a CSV file”, but with one important reminder: always connect the “Discogs release ID” pull down menu to “release_id”! You will notice that the Discogs CSV file is missing info (B-side of the record, country, etc.) so later on we will need to complete this data and Jukehead will be able to do that through the Discogs release ID. You can leave all other pull down menus unlinked if you like, all missing info will be completed in the Discogs scan.

Discogs scan
When the import is complete, set a filter to “98 Imported” so only the imported records are shown. You will see info missing, like B-side and stuff, but not to worry. From the pull down menu, choose “Maintenance” and “Discogs collection scan continuously”. This will complete the missing info in your imported records. It will take time, since the Discogs website only allows 25 search queries per minute, so the program throttles the routine to this rate. A collection of 3000 records will take up to 2 hours to complete. You can always interrupt this, because Jukehead marks the records it has updated, so the next time you’ll start this routine again it will continue where it left off. Choosing “Discogs collection scan 1 run” will check about 25 records and stops afterwards. This will also mark the scanned records so these will be skipped next time.

Settings (pull down menu below the label)
Access this from the pull down menu “Maintenance” and “Settings screen”. Here you can change the settings for Jukehead.
– max. width artist: this will show the percentage of the labels width to use,
– font titles: name of the font in which the titles are printed,
– font artist: same for the artist,
– size titles: maximum font size for the titles,
– size artist: maximum font size for artist,
– distance: how far all labels are printed from each other,
– printer DPI: 600, 300 or 72, I recommend you do not change this unless your printer prints your labels way too big or small,
– screen list font size: font size of the listbox in the middle of the screen

Mass edit
This pull down menu allows you to change the records that are shown in your list. So be aware: every record shown in your list is manipulated! Use the filters to change the list so it only shows the records you want to change.

Encounter a problem? Please give me some feedback!
This program is a labour of love. I wanted to manage my vinyl collection and print labels and I love to program, so this was the result. And why not let other people enjoy? I created this software on a Mac, so this version is tested the most extensively. I did some minor testing on Windows 8 and 10, but it is possible that Windows users run into a bug, problem or quirk. If you do, please let me know and shoot me an e-mail! I will fix it as soon as possible.

Version history
April 22, 2022: Started compiling a wish list for Jukehead functionality
April 27, 2022: Started programming Jukehead

May 25, 2022 / v1.0.7: print dialog now in English / better Discogs search / EP’s are now also presented correctly from Discogs / fixed “empty database bug” when starting Jukehead for the first time and exiting it without adding data / “Selected” value can now be changed directly in the listbox column / width of columns in listbox is editable and stored (try it in the header of the listbox) / added margins to top, bottom and left and right when printing to prevent printing outside of printable zone on some printers.

May 28, 2022 / v1.0.14: updated database to SQLite (this version needs a database conversion) / moved a lot of functions to pull down menu’s / improvements in Discogs search routines / added a lot of data fields like year, genre, price, A2 and B2 side and artist (you need to pull your windows wider that 1100 pixels to see these A2/B2 fields) / added two export options / moved settings to separate window you can open from a pull down window.

June 8, 2022 / v1.0.21: added import CSV and Discogs / added Discogs collection scan / moved many options to pull down menus / added Trash Can / improved Discogs search / added Discogs info button / even more improvements in Discogs search routine.

June 26, 2022 / v1.0.23: bugfix in CSV import to also accept semicolon delimited files

January 17, 2023 / v1.0.30: Unicode is now finally translated to readable characters (the “\u00e7” stuff Discogs sometimes returned in titles and artists) / double records shown in yellow if you switch on this feature (based on similar Cat.nr.) / more label pictures and better categorized to find a specific label / you can now link a label to a (series of) record(s) / records shown in green when a search filter is active

How Jukehead got created
When I got a large collection of vinyl from my father, I started looking around what to do with it. For many years it was just sitting in boxes because a jukebox was out of my reach. Then I discovered the relatively undesired era of the '70s and I was mesmerized by the designs of it's jukeboxes. There came a surge of daring models with bright lights and colors. In hindsight it looks like this dying industry wanted to go out with a bang. So I bought a 1972 Seeburg Bandshell Firestar  with some bugs in it for a nice price and I love it! A week after that it was followed by a Seeburg Olympian with even more stuff to repair so the bug finally got me...

I wrote Jukehead because I needed something to put my collection in so that I could browse websites and fairs to shop for missing records without buying stuff I already have. I also needed something to print labels with and since programming is another hobby of mine: here is Jukehead! Feel free to enjoy it.

Mario van Ginneken
Cenobyte

My blog (Dutch language only!)