JUKEBOX

noun Also written juke-box (Science and Technology) In computing jargon, an optical storage device containing a number of CDs and a mechanism for loading each one as required for the retrieval of data. Etymology: A figurative use of jukebox; like the musical version, the computer jukebox has a number of discs which the user can select and load at will. History and Usage: The technology for exchanging discs in a computer data store has been referred to in computing literature as the jukebox principle since the early sixties. However, it was the development of the optical disc as a storage medium in the eighties that made the jukebox a realistic possibility for ordinary businesses. The storage capacity is vastly greater than any other medium yet made available, and the jukebox mechanism makes for speed of access as well. One-and-a-half juke-boxes could store the names and addresses of every person in the world. Daily Telegraph 21 Nov. 1986, p. 15 A CD-ROM jukebox, about the size of a suitcase...holds up to 270 CD-ROM discs--the equivalent of 72 million pages of text. The Times 2 Mar. 1989, p. 36 Reflection Systems, formed in Cambridge last year, offers a deskside optical juke-box with two drives for users who need 47 gigabytes of data storage. Guardian 28 June 1990, p. 29