Hello,
Ive just been asked to build a PC for a club I work in,
I can build a basic PC but dont really know about hardware and whats really out there to choose from.
This PC will be mounted on the back bar of a club and needs to be accessed easily.
Options I have thought about have been using a touchscreen monitor but Im not sure if theres any point if the software isnt compatible.

Im after software that could give me details of the frequency of times a song has been played, bpm, the mood of the song etc.

I'd like to be able to look through my collection similar to a jukebox, where I can see the cover art tracks etc.

My budget is is around $2500 (us) or in my currency 250,000 yen.
My problem is I dont speak Japanese so its hard to go into a shop and explain what I want.

I have about a 500cm x 500cm space for the system to slot into.
We have a 100mbps fibre optic connection so I was also thinking of using wireless technology to move files from the office pC to the music pc.

What I would like if possible is for advice on:
Motherboard
CPU (how fast)
Ram (how much)
Hard Drive (external or internal or both, whats the best one)
Sound card
Wireless keyboard , mouse
Case (should it be larger to allow for cooling)
Monitor do I really need a touchscreen type?
Software - XP home or XP pro?
Music software - NO idea yet what I want.
Video card - I would like to show clips of stuff while the music is running in the background,

As you can see Im totally in the dark.
I can build PCs but only as a lego man type builder.

Hope I havent missed anything out

And many thanks to all who helps,
I'll post pictures as it gets built and hopfully a nice picture of the finished item in the club.

I'm not sure about software but I'm sure you can get it for free or a minimal price. Any PC will do as long as it has enough storage and isn't noisy. Go to silentpcriview for components to build a music computer. Shouldn't have to pay more than $600, plus a small lcd screen. XP pro is best for networking I think. Presumably it's just a PC; there's already amplification which takes analog RCA? In that case consider:
EMU 1212m <$200
Chaintech AV710 plus Benchmark DAC-1 for just over $1000
There are intermediate options.
Software shouldn't be expensive. I don't know what software tracks number of times you play something.

As far as the PC hardware, I think any PC available today on the market is able to play music files without any problems.
I recommend you to get some remote control (not infrared, but Bluetooth or radio - e.g. ATi Remote Wonder).
The only special thing would be a sound card - buy a PCI card, do not use on-board one.

Use foobar2000 or WinAmp as you wish. Both players fit your needs (but you will have to download some plug-in modules for playback counter etc.)

Thankis for the quick reply.
As Im in Japan its not easy to get advice on this subject due to the language barriers.
I do use Foobar here and Mixmeister Pro.
I'd like something that could possibly show the cover art and be able to search for songs quickly and know that they havent already been played before too often.
I would like to be able to perhaps have the pc case visible and do some nice mods on it for aesthetic reasons.

I'll definately be checking out the EMU 1212m ,
A good point about amplification, Id forgotten about the amp in the club, I must check to see what input output options are available on it.

What about hard drives?
I was thinking external purely based on the ability to upload more tracks as they get ripped. I was thinking of using the office pc to rip and then somehow get the data from that pc to the other? How could I do this if I have an internal Hard drive? wireless technology of some kind or perhaps running a network??
What would be a good hard drive to9 get for this, We have a lot of cds to convert so Im hoping to get as big a HD as Possible.

Thanks for the tips so far

Er, take the hard drive out of the office pc, put it in the other one, make sure it doesn't become the boot drive, and copy. Next best: use a small external hard drive to rip to. Wireless is a hassle.
Good hardware: mobile athlon xp or athlon 64 2800+ with cool and quiet supporting motherboard, northwood pentium 4, or an old pentium 3
Hard drive: samsung or seagate. New seagates will come out soon which look good.
RAM: 256mb
Video: integrated
CD: Plextor premium
Check SPCR for case/psu etc.

I asked this a while back at the r3mix forums & have followed these type of threads, this is what I would do,
Motherboard: SIS=Said to be very stable, make sure there is no fan!
CPU=I would say anything without a fan but these is impossible so get something that will last an Athlon 64 would be good, then think about water cooling.
Reader+Burner=Lite-on, it the best for money & quality & what I would use with EAC but you should think about a Plextor too because Plextools is a deadly weapon for ripping fast & recovering damaged audio CD's
Hard Drive=I have to say Seagate is my choice, no doubt, quite, fast & you can just see the put quality into their drives.
Graphics=Anything without a fan, ATI is pretty stable SIS would be even better & they are good performers
RAM=I have 256MB, running XP, EAC, Winamp no problem XP will use about 80-180MB normally on my PC, I would say for the price get 512MB.
Audio Card=This is where to put big buck IMO but I would look for a used one first try ebay http://www.pcavtech.com/sound cards/compare/ has tests which will tell you the best sound card you can get.

I think the main things are the ripping drive & the sound card (playback , analog recording), put your money into that & that it's a quite PC, the less fans the better, Plextor drives a pretty noisy too so maybe go for a lite-on.

Have a look at this thread...

had i $2,500 for such a computer, i'd get that silent case from Zalman ($700) for starters...

http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/view....idx=64&code=020
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20040115/

not sure i entirely trust water around my electronic quite yet (although things have gotten pretty decent, i hear)