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Seeburg Jukebox
Company History Seeburg were founded in 1902, their first business was the manufacture of coin operated electronic pianos. The first Seeburg Jukeboxes were the Selectophones of 1934. Throughout the 40s a new mechanism, the select-o-matic was refined, this enabled Seeburg to release the M100a in 1948. This was the first jukebox to offer 100 selections, and broke Wurlitzer's hold over the jukebox market. Seeburg teamed up with RCA in the development of 45rpm records, their M100b was the world's first 45rpm playing jukebox. During the mid 1950's Seeburg fell foul of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, due to their closed network of operators and distributors. The case was lost, but the company was still profitable. the seeburg family sold up in 1956, perhaps disillusioned by the lawsuit, but the company still continued to make jukeboxes well into the seventies. Notable Jukeboxes The Model M100a was the first to use the select-o-matic system, offering 100 selections. This was produced from 1948 to 1951. The HF100R was the first jukebox with Hi-Fi sound, manufactured in 1954 it is also known as The Bandshell. Another first was achieved in 1955 with the V-200 which offered 200 selections from 45rpm records. This also included a rotating drum title rack. In 1959 The Model 222 introduced stereo sound to jukeboxes. |