Another good reason not to use anything Apple

[CRAZY K]

My my this is pertinent

My main DJ laptop jobbied the bed on Sunday. It seems to be back in order now but I'm no longer comfortable as having it my main machine.

The back up runs OK now that I've took all the junkware it was bundled with off it. It's only ever been used as a backup for gigs but still, those early days of it freezing on VDJ have always put me on edge.

Sooooooooooo tonight I finally dug out the refurbed macbook I bought before Santa came - lo and behold it switched on, updated and after half an hour of trying to work out wtf I was doing I had my music on it, my dmx and all the lighting gubbins.

I'm going to pick up a new macbook on the way home from work tomorrow and basically have them as mirrors of each other DJ wise plus use the new one for business, work and maybe a bit of recording and video editing.


Anyhoo - question: I know I'm probably not doing this the right way but I've put all of my music folders from the windows machine onto the desktop of the mac. I've not installed VDJ yet but I assume it'll just be a case of finding them in the file menu and everything will work like it should.


Providing I keep all of my stuff away from iTunes and whatever this other thing is - I shouldn't have any problems with stuff disappearing?

I have everything backed up on 2 pen drives I carry on my keys so would in theory always have 2 back up libraries even if the two machines deleted files at gigs but it's not a situation I fancy having to deal with in the first place.

My I pods and Ipads seem to be thriving with I tunes--not using a Laptop though.

I stick to the golden rules mentioned on apple help sites which I had to look at when my i pod wouldnt sync--silly me didnt charge the battery to full on the Classic but doesnt affect the newer models.

RULE ONE. Fully charge.

RULE TWO. Use a Cleaner on your host computer first before syncing.

RULE THREE. if using Computer go to app data then to temp files---delete everything you can. Thats on Windows so dont know what happens with the MAC.

I cant comment on VDJ but I tunes seem very robust.

Its getting worrying--im considering becoming an I pod Entertainer as I only use limited music

Bit of a shame theres no more head phone sockets though!

[Benny Smyth]

Thats the point. He does not even use Macs by the looks of things, nor do most big DJ's when looking on Images.
They have a set playlist on a pen drive so Big digital Pioneers are so much better for them.

My bad. That looked like a Mac to me.

Most DJs use Rekordbox to build their sets so they only need USB sticks. Must be nice only playing for an hour at a time. Sigh...

[DazzyD]

...

VDJ may be a different story though as thats a program for amateur DJ's, a bit like Using Windoze.
Proper DJ's use MacBooks.



...

Really? Proper DJs have their sets pre-recorded so they can shout things like "Woo! Woo!", "Get on the floor!", and "Put your hands in the air!".

Famous DJs and artists that are, or were, known for using PCs over MAC include Deadmau5, Flux Pavillion, Girl Talk, James Holden and Kerri Chandler. So not all pro DJs use Macs!

However, there is a technical reason why Macs win the audio fight over PCs and that is because they can process audio natively. This ability is built in to the very core of the Mac operating system. In the early days, this made them ideal for things like music production and recording, advertising, etc. IBM and Windows were aimed squarely at the business market so there was no need for great sounding audio. Since the early days, there has been progress in this area but only through 3rd party technology (ie sound cards) which have to work with Windows but are not integrated in to the heart of Windows (or any Windows-compatible chipsets). This creates an extra layer of "things that can go wrong" and, therefore, this solution will never be as effect as if audio processing was built in (native) to Windows. So the Mac v PC debate isn't purely about style and marketing. There is a technical reason behind the argument. But, for that slight benefit (and it is only slight as the audio technology for Windows machines has come a very long way since the early days and the gap between the two machines is nowhere near as wide), I still think Macs are massively overpriced compared to Windows solutions.

What I'm interested in is the pro DJ take up of the MS Surface Pro which is being marketed as being a solution for the music production and performance industry. I'd like to see actual figures in a years' time!

My bad. That looked like a Mac to me.

Most DJs use Rekordbox to build their sets so they only need USB sticks. Must be nice only playing for an hour at a time. Sigh...

It looks like a Mac Book Pro to me, too! Notice how thin it is!

[Nakatomi]

My bad. That looked like a Mac to me.

Most DJs use Rekordbox to build their sets so they only need USB sticks. Must be nice only playing for an hour at a time. Sigh...

Aye that's what I used to say about the likes of Tong etc rolling up to a club with a slim bag of records, while I was yomping 2x 100 12" flightcases around. I swear one of my arms is still longer than the other

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Got both macs set up now and purring away.

When does the dough start rolling in?

[ukpartydj]

I personally am a little judgy about Apple equipment.
If I see a person with a mac I assume they aren't tech savvy / they like to have the popular thing at the time.

I wish the guys that are real Apple fans, thinking PCs / Android is rubbish could just admit that either they don't have a clue or they just followed the heard.

It's tricky to find specs for Apple stuff a lot of the time which further helps them be incomparable. Sometimes basic things like the processer used isn't stated anywhere easy to to find!

[yourdj]

That looked like a Mac to me.

It looks like a Mac Book Pro to me, too! Notice how thin it is!

Looks like a unibody white plastic mac to me?? Hardly a pro DJ tool, but the dual cores were pretty good for the money!!

He is not using it though I don't think (as the decks are to the right) its probably just in the booth for another DJ or VJ, backup/background.
I struggled to find any photos of him (or any other BIG DJ) using a mac actually. I went from Avicci to Wolfgang

[Tone]

I personally am a little judgy about Apple equipment.
If I see a person with a mac I assume they aren't tech savvy / they like to have the popular thing at the time.

I wish the guys that are real Apple fans, thinking PCs / Android is rubbish could just admit that either they don't have a clue or they just followed the heard.

It's tricky to find specs for Apple stuff a lot of the time which further helps them be incomparable. Sometimes basic things like the processer used isn't stated anywhere easy to to find!

I bought my first mac a year ago. A Macbook Pro Retina 13" Early 2015 model and love it. I still use my custom desktop that I built myself as my main DAW but love the portability/mobility factor of my Macbook. The battery lasts up to 10 hours unless I'm pushing it very hard and it's so quiet too compared to my Sony Laptop. I know you can buy very good Windows laptops for the same price as a Mac but I thought I may as well buy a Mac if I spending a Grand. I did find the specs quite easily tbh and unfortunately I couldn't get a model with 16GB of RAM other than the older i7 that had an older generation CPU and as a result you get a shorter battery life. It's just great for productivity on the move or on the sofa etc

Like most laptops you have to close down Wifi and other tasks that run in the background to have a glitch free system when using Traktor and the S4, it was a good job I found this out when testing at home before playing out so yeah so far it's serving me well. My Sony VAIO i3 that I have had for around 4 years I use for my backup/DMX controller is also up to the job however its a little more bulky/heavy and noisy and compared to my macbook is feeling old. I'm definitely not an Apple fanboy as I've met many of those over the years and still love the versatility of building Windows based computers. I also have OSX running on my desktop too and unlike Apple computers I can upgrade my desktop at any time without it hurting my pocket too much.

But yeah don't assume everyone who has a mac is a fanboy or isn't tech savvy, I think its best to have both, also when it comes to tablets too as I have a samsung Galaxy Tablet and an iPad Air which I only bought last year which comes in handy for Music production and DJ apps. I use Algorridm DJay with Spotify which is amazingly cheap! I have it on the Galaxy too however the battery life on the iPad is far more superior compared to any android tablet I've owned. There are pro's and cons to each and is why I own most formats

[Corabar Steve]

I was wondering how massively off topic this would get by the Time I finished reading.

Quite a lot it seems

[funkymook]

I personally am a little judgy about Apple equipment.
If I see a person with a mac I assume they aren't tech savvy / they like to have the popular thing at the time.

Some people have been using computers and laptops longer than you’ve been alive - I choose a MBP for my Dj’ing because I can afford to use whatever I want and that’s what suits me so you can save your judgement kiddo....