Seeburg BMS1 - Background Music System
I’d normally leave a bit more of a gap between retro-tech videos than this, but I’ve been tripping over this thing on the floor of my ‘studio’ for weeks, so to create a bit of much needed space I’ve expedited this.
There should be a loosely connected part-two to follow in a few days… so far I’ve got about 5 mins of rough cut video that I shot six months which probably now needs re-shooting.
Whenever I’m demonstrating old audio devices there’s always the potential threat of automatic music content match and take-down requests hanging over them. Something like this would be a devil to re-edit and remove the music, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that this doesn’t happen. By having you see the video here early in a controlled environment it’s a good way to see if anything like this occurs.
I’ll probably be rolling this out to the general public on Tuesday morning.
Hope you enjoy it.
RetroTech: Seeburg 1000 BMS1 Background Music System (1959-1986) (YouTube)
Comments (30)
Great content as always! A bit weird though, felt like you were speaking to me somehow ("Seeburg" is how you pronounce my last name). Keep up the good work.
I know how that feels, for a while we had neighbours with a young child who had my name - every time they shouted it, I flinched.
Again, another slick, informative and entertaining slice of retrotech (is that a word?)...
I think it is - someone tried to tell me that they'd invented it, but they'd 'let me use it' on my videos - I linked them to an article from about 10 years ago that used it and then told them where to get off.
Fantastic video! Always amazing to see the mechanical work that went into old devices, thank you for sharing!
Another fab video! I'm a Patron because of times like these, when I go from "have never even heard of this" to "engrossed in the story" in short order. Followed by "Checking eBay, just out of curiosity..." Keep doing what you do!
Thank you - it’s the exact same process for me. I’m always surprised whenever I find that there’s a community of enthusiasts for something that until recently I wasn’t aware existed. It’s great to be able to share this with a wider audience. Then, like The Littlest Hobo, I’m off to look for the next thing.
Aw, that sucks. A lot of these internet-of-things devices tend to behave like this it seems. A friend has a similar one and the same The 8-Bit Guy tested and they also stop updating things like these. I also notice a lot of streaming apps not updating properly too, like SoundCloud's mobile app. This is the future, poorly programmed stuff. Maybe we should make something more analogue instrad. 😜
I like that you're showing the amount of subscribers on your clock in the video. ^__^
Yes it was great...while it worked. It seems to be stuck now at the figures from last week. I have a feeling google has deactivated the link to external devices.
Really enjoyed that, what a piece of machinery to achieve a playlist.
You have both of the intros in this video. Not complaining, but just an observation!
Yes, I thought it worked pretty well. Seemed almost slick.
Really interesting video Techmoan. Looking forward to part 2.
I remember riding in my dad's station fake wood paneled station wagon listening to Muzak broadcast by our local FM station. probably about 1977. I was 11 years old. He really enjoyed listening to it. If I remember correctly, Muzak was all they played, all day long. We listened to a lot of Muzak. 😄. This video brought back good memories. Thank you.
Nice touch with the bulging briefcase full of money at the research facility. I laughed so hard! Thank you also for continuing to showcase such unusual mechanical wonders and for showing the entire story of how you acquired them and got them working. I love your channel!
Thanks, it's a real pleasure to be able to do this kind of thing. I enjoy learning about these things then packaging it all up in a neat video. It's the most fun I've had.
Good video. Business fads and pseudoscience- some things don't change.
Your tech videos make me happy. Keep on making them!
On the seeburg website they have a short video of the "Encore" machine. Any thoughts on the Encore machine? Great video, by the way. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The encore is an even rarer machine, only being sold for a few years for specialist installations. I like the idea that the music was for cocktail lounges, but I think that machine might be impossible to find and I haven't seen any of the records for it offered anywhere. If I ever did find some, I could play them in my machine.
Absolutely the sort of thing I love to watch. Right up my street - thanks! :-) By the way, I like the shirt, too and I'd wear it - and I'm considerably older than you too. GFI! ;-)
Great machine, great "songs", great video. Also, the snazzy outfits you're sporting lately don't go unnoticed. Nice touch!
Since I'm one of the more senior YouTubers, I thought I should embrace it. The younger people can pull off the amusing or ironic t-shirt look, I think at my age I'm more of a jacket and shirt type chap.
Fascinating video - many thanks!
How am I supposed to write a "FIRST!" comment when comments are disabled?!
That's an achievement that the younger viewers can compete for on Tuesday.
I enjoyed it. Very interesting retro stuff.
OK, I'm intrigued. How did you figure out what the bits were for? They look like someones personal clever work around rather than a manufacturers option.
As far as I could make out, the loose parts were all mountings for the missing timer or to hold the amplifier down. In the end I didn't need to use any of them other than the reject lever. The reject lever is mentioned in the manual, and it can be removed with one screw if you don't want anyone to have access to the controls without a key.