Electric Jukebox: The plug-and-play device for listening to music in your home

'No Downloads. No sign-up. No monthly subscription. No laptop or smartphone needed' - so what's the catch?

Robbie Williams and (below) Alesha Dixon have backed the new Electric Jukebox (Getty Images)

Try to work out the best way to listen to music in 2015 and you’re faced with overwhelming choice. Streaming services compete for your monthly commitment while vinyl is making a physical comeback, and internet-connected speakers continue to become the number-one choice for streaming music around the home.

Aiming to cut out the clutter is the Electric Jukebox, a one-stop plug-and-play device that sets about doing away with complicated subscriptions and app-based music sharing. It’s an HDMI dongle that plugs into the back of your TV, with a remote featuring an in-built microphone.

The idea is simple: plug the Electric Jukebox in, connect it to your wi-fi, speak your song choice, and away you go.

“No Downloads. No sign-up. No credit card. No monthly subscription. No laptop or smartphone needed,” the marketing materials boast. So far so good – but what’s the catch?

Well, for one it’s not cheap. Despite doing away with the monthly cost, the Electric Jukebox (electricjukebox.com) will retail at £179 – that’s more than the cost of one year of unlimited music streaming on Spotify.

The music itself is free though, right? Well, sort of. For your £179, you get a one-year Premium Music Pass, meaning ad-free on-demand listening for 12 months, but if you want to continue listening without adverts and ill-defined “reduced services”, there’s an annual cost of £60.

Admittedly, this works out at half the price of competing streaming services such as Spotify and Deezer, but for a product that prides itself on cutting out monthly subscriptions, the introduction of an annual payment feels like cheating.

There are other problems too – namely, your TV. You’ll need it to be switched on while you listen to music on Electric Jukebox, and the user interface is a bit of an eyesore. A far remove from the sleek visuals of Apple and Amazon products, the Electric Jukebox is all cheap-and-cheerful karaoke bar neon icons and spinning album covers.

The nature of the device also means that the sound will play out of your TV, and unless you’ve got a high-spec telly those tinny speakers aren’t going to do your favourite songs justice. To make the most of it, you’ll also want a good pair of speakers or a hi-fi hooked up to your TV.

Then there’s the curated content – and the less said about that (it includes mixtapes from Alesha Dixon and, er, Robbie Williams’ wife Ayda Field) the better.

In theory, the Electric Jukebox sounds like a tempting proposition, with simplicity being its key selling point. But digging into the cons, it soon becomes clear that spending a bit more time researching the options might save you money and frustration in the long run.