Digital downloading jukebox system with user-tailored music management, communications, and other tools

A portable electronic device operable by a user to play music in an out-of-home pay-for-play establishment from a catalog of playable songs, comprising:

• a display;
• at least one processor configured to at least:
• enable the user to execute a login operation to indicate that the user is present at the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment;
• in response to the user selecting a song, collect a number of credits in exchange for the selected song being added to a queue of songs to be played back at the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment;
• output to the display of the portable electronic device at least a portion of the queue at the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment;
• receive from the user one or more votes in connection with one or more songs in the displayed portion of the queue, wherein tallied counts of votes placed by other logged-in registered users are displayable to the user;
• wherein songs from the queue are played at the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment,
• wherein the portion of the queue and the tallied counts of votes are displayable in a single screen view on the display of the portable electronic device the user used to execute the login operation, the single screen view further including an indication of a currently playing song at the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment, and an identifier of a user who selected the currently playing song if any, for the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment,
• wherein the portion of the queue, the tallied counts of votes, the indication of the currently playing song, and the identifier of the user who selected the currently playing song if any, for the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment is displayable on a standalone display, and
• wherein the catalog of songs is restrictable such that only a partial subset of songs is available for selection by logged-in registered users at the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment.

A digital audio reproduction system operable to play music in an out-of-home pay-for-play establishment from a catalog of playable songs, the system comprising:

• an audio output circuit;
• and
• at least one processor configured to at least:
• enable a plurality of users to execute login operations to indicate that the respective users are present at the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment;
• in response to a logged-in registered user selecting a song, collect a number of credits from the logged-in registered user in exchange for the selected song being added to a queue of songs to be played back at the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment, at least a portion of the queue being made visible to logged-in registered users;
• receive from logged-in registered users votes in connection with one or more songs in a displayed portion of the queue, wherein tallied counts of votes placed by logged-in registered users are also made visible to logged-in registered users;
• and
• cause songs from the queue to be played using the audio output circuit,
• wherein the portion of the queue and the tallied counts of votes are displayable in a single screen view on mobile devices that the logged-in registered users used to execute their respective login operations, the single screen view further including an indication of a currently playing song at the respective out-of-home pay-for-play establishment, and an identifier of a user who selected the currently playing song if any, for the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment,
• wherein the portion of the queue, the tallied counts of votes, the indication of the currently playing song, and the identifier of the user who selected the currently playing song if any, for the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment is displayable on a standalone display, and
• wherein the catalog of songs is restrictable such that only a partial subset of songs is available for selection by logged-in registered users at the out-of-home pay-for-play establishment.

A digital audio reproduction system operable to play music at a plurality of out-of-home pay-for-play establishments, the system comprising a catalog of playable songs, each out-of-home pay-for-play establishment comprising:

• at least one processor configured to at least:
• enable a plurality of users to execute login operations to indicate that the respective users are present at the respective out-of-home pay-for-play establishment;
• in response to a logged-in registered user selecting a song, collect a number of credits from the logged-in registered user in exchange for the selected song being added to a queue of songs to be played back at the respective out-of-home pay-for-play establishment, at least a portion of the queue being made visible to logged-in registered users;
• receive from logged-in registered users at the respective out-of-home pay-for-play establishment votes in connection with one or more songs in the visible portion of the queue of the respective out-of-home pay-for-play establishment, wherein tallied counts of votes placed by logged-in registered users are also made visible to logged-in registered users;
• and
• cause songs from the queue to be played at the respective out-of-home pay-for-play establishment,
• wherein, for each said out-of-home pay-for-play establishment, the portion of the queue and the tallied counts of votes are displayable in a single screen view on mobile devices that the logged-in registered users used to execute their respective login operations, the single screen view further including an indication of a currently playing song at the respective out-of-home pay-for-play establishment, and an identifier of a user who selected the currently playing song if any, for the respective out-of-home pay-for-play establishment,
• wherein at least some of said out-of-home pay-for-play establishments include a standalone display controllable to output the portion of the queue, the tallied counts of votes, the indication of the currently playing song, and the identifier of the user who selected the currently playing song if any, for those respective out-of-home pay-for-play establishments, and
• wherein the catalog of songs is restrictable on an out-of-home pay-for-play establishment by out-of-home pay-for-play establishment basis such that only partial subsets of songs are available for selection by logged-in registered users at out-of-home pay-for-play establishments where the catalog of songs has been correspondingly restricted.