The vinyl revival saw new models of record players pop up in droves, as new fans began investing once again in the once-obsolete technology. Will the same hold true for the similarly archaic jukeboxes? We don’t know, but Crosley is definitely going to try to find out with the Vinyl Rocket, a new vinyl-based jukebox.
The only vinyl-playing jukebox currently being manufactured in the world (according to Crosley), the rig looks like a genuine classic that’s been retrieved by time travelers who went back to 1955 and smuggled a jukebox through the time-space wormhole. Seriously, this looks like it came from the diner your great-grandfather bought in the city after World War II. Or something like that.
Like jukeboxes of old, the Crosley Vinyl Rocket comes in a large cabinet with a 120-watt stereo speaker at the bottom, a song rack listing the tracks, and a series of buttons for punching in the combination for the song you want to play. Unlike traditional jukeboxes which hid the actual record players, this one puts it at a visible location front and center, so people can bask in the novelty of knowing they’re listening to music being played from an actual vinyl record.
A rotating mechanism inside the cabinet holds up to 70 seven-inch records, so you can load the jukebox with up to 140 songs (assuming one song for each side of the record). When you choose a song, the setup rotates to place that record at the top, which is then fed to the vertically-oriented player to bust out your favorite jams like it’s 1961.
Instead of using a modern LCD panel for the track listing, the Crosley Vinyl Rocket sports a traditional rack with printed labels to indicate the code for each available song. Do note, only 36 songs are visible at a time, but a rotating mechanism allows you to scroll left and right through the entire song rack to find that one jam you’ve been aching to listen to all day. Buttons for selecting songs are available right below the song rack, along with a pair of buttons for scrolling left and right.
Don’t want to get up every time you want to play a new song? Not a problem, as the vintage-style jukebox comes with a modern remote control that lets you control the machine from a distance. Do note, the remote control doesn’t have an available track listing, so unless you’ve memorized the codes for each song, there’s a good chance your selections are going to be wrong.
The Crosley Vinyl Rocket’s cabinet, by the way, can be easily opened when you need to add or swap in a new record. They also include a bundled software for making labels that you can print on your home printer, although you can always just write new labels and stick it on the song rack like people used to do back in the day. Other features include integrated Bluetooth (for streaming music to the speaker), AUX input/output, and a microphone input (if you want to turn it into a karaoke or something).
Available now, the Crosley Vinyl Rocket is priced at $12,995.