JSukebox v1.0

I have a folder in my browsers’ bookmarks – ‘listen’ – that houses links to various albums and webradiostations. Last week I  thought, how nice it would be if I could click something and it opens a random link from that folder. If only there was a thing I could click on and it would play random music from preselected sources.

Of course, there are extensions for the former but I would need to fill my bookmark-folder with a plethora of links. Problem is, I actually want to slim down on the bookmarking. I feel like I just drop stuff in buckets until they overflow and then I throw them out without ever taking at least a sip of the concoction.

Of another course, there are services that would let me define, or buy, or steal a music collection I could play from my Winamp-clone of choice. This entails ads and mails and ads in mails or, less bugging, viruses. The only service I use in this regard is Soundcloud. It is as close to a social media site as I was willed to register at, where I like and repost electronic mixes which keep me entertained while I work.

What is missing is a solution for non-work related times. Or work-times where I want fewer beats and more guitars for example.

Ergo, JSukebox. It’s a file that lives on my desktop. I doubleclick it, it starts a browser, opens one of about currently 30 links, I press play and – voilà – music. A bookmark within a browser is used when I’m in the mood for a new random selection.

In technical terms it’s an HTML-file with some JavaScript inside (the JS in ‘JSukebox’). The JavaScript has a list of links, picks one at random and redirects to it. When I find new music I can edit the file to append the list. Not exactly rocket science.

If you want to have a go at it, perhaps create your own version or laugh about my middling JS-skills, download the file (rightclick the link and save it) and edit it. If you just want some music, click on it. Please note though, that I probably won’t ever update this first version with further links, like they can be found in the Media Bites category in this blog for example (current ones are all included, bythyway). Subscribe to my RSS feed for that!