Vending machine

Claim 1

An assembly for vending individual articles of merchandise comprising; a cabinet including a base, a plurality of vertical walls, a door and a top disposed in surrounding relation to an enclosed cabinet interior, said door including a window and an access opening therethrough, rack means for supporting the articles of merchandise in an ordered arrangement within said cabinet interior in a preferred viewing orientation relative to said window, a catch bin on an inner side door below said rack means and communicating with said access opening, release means for releasing a select one of said articles of merchandise from said rack means so as to cause said article to fall into said catch bin, facilitating retrieval of said article through said access opening from an exterior of said cabinet, a compact disc player and disc exchanger structured and disposed to contain and selectively play a plurality of compact discs, audible means for facilitating listening of a sound recording on said compact discs played by said compact disc player, said sound recording corresponding with at least one of said articles of merchandise supported on said rack means, control means exteriorly accessible on said door and interconnected to and structured for controlling said compact disc player and disc exchanger and said release means, said control means including means for selecting one of said compact discs to be played and further including means for selecting one of said articles of merchandise to be released from said rack means by said release means, and interface means interconnected between said control means and said release means, said interface means being further interconnected with a money deposit mechanism and being specifically structured to prevent actuation of said release means until a deposit of a predetermined amount of money is received through said money mechanism.