how many songs will a laptop hold

[gaza]

Hi guys.
If and that is a big if, (with this new licence now in force), i start using a laptop for djing, how many song would a laptop hold.
Lets say a 40gb or 80 gb hard drive.
I have seen on here that you guys use external hard drives, now is that because you have loads and loads and loads of music, or because an average laptop would not be able to cope with the amount of music that is needed to dj with.
I am still using cds at the moment, :eek: but i am toying with the laptop idea.
Thanks in advance.:)

[Excalibur]

Hi guys.
If and that is a big if, (with this new licence now in force), i start using a laptop for djing, how many song would a laptop hold.
Lets say a 40gb or 80 gb hard drive.
I have seen on here that you guys use external hard drives, now is that because you have loads and loads and loads of music, or because an average laptop would not be able to cope with the amount of music that is needed to dj with.
I am still using cds at the moment, :eek: but i am toying with the laptop idea.
Thanks in advance.:)

As I see it, two choices. Pay money for a top spec laptop with big HD, or use external HD. 15,000 mp3's at 320K takes up in the area of 120Gb, which would be over what's available on my Lappy ( The swines have split the HD on it, so not all free for storage!:bang: ) Therefore it's external for me, plus it's a backup HD for the Cortex. Choice probably depends on what a laptop with 250Gb built in costs.

[gaza]

As I see it, two choices. Pay money for a top spec laptop with big HD, or use external HD. 15,000 mp3's at 320K takes up in the area of 120Gb, which would be over what's available on my Lappy ( The swines have split the HD on it, so not all free for storage!:bang: ) Therefore it's external for me, plus it's a backup HD for the Cortex. Choice probably depends on what a laptop with 250Gb built in costs.


Hi Excalibur.
So 15000 mp3 format songs would take up 120gb, at the moment i only have about 5,000 or 6,000 songs, so they would fit onto a 60 or 80gb hardrive, but then as my music liabry built up i would need more hd space.
So i see why it would make sense to buy an external hard drive.

[Vectis]

#1 reason why you should go external:

Portability - you can connect it to multiple computers - great in case of a computer problem and also means your gigging laptop is exactly that!

[gaza]

so how about if i put one of these in a laptop

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0150111105.121534055 7@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccgfadeeiffgfgecflgceggdhhmdgmj.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=322715&category_oid=-31457


#1 reason why you should go external:

Portability - you can connect it to multiple computers - great in case of a computer problem and also means your gigging laptop is exactly that!


Yep, i see what you mean Vectisvibe, so because the hard drive is external, there can only be things that i want on it, ie music.


so how about if i put one of these in a laptop

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0150111105.121534055 7@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccgfadeeiffgfgecflgceggdhhmdgmj.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=322715&category_oid=-31457

Sorry, i was still typing this, when vectis posted his reply.

[Excalibur]

#1 reason why you should go external:

Portability - you can connect it to multiple computers - great in case of a computer problem and also means your gigging laptop is exactly that!

Don't tell me! You've got at least two laptops on the road as backup, and one at home in case! ;) ;) :D :D :D

I use this and rate it highly.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0150111105.121534055 7@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccgfadeeiffgfgecflgceggdhhmdgmj.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=517061&category_oid=-32891

[gaza]

And what speed Ram, would i need, would 512 be ok?.

[Tom]

For the RAM, the higher the better. Best to have 1GB as a minimum.

[Excalibur]

For the RAM, the higher the better. Best to have 1GB as a minimum.

I'd say two, but then again I'm an old sceptic! ;) :D

[daz226]

also remember that any new lap tops now come with vista and if you use pcdj then you will have to upgrade to pcdjvj or reflex as they dont crash with vista.

look on www.ebuyer.com as they have great deals on laptops

[ppentertainments]

If your purchasing a laptop purely for dj'ing I would highly reccomend using a hd contoller instead (cortex 1000).

They are cheaper and in my opinion more reliable and sound better. I have gone from laptop to cortex recently (don't know if I have mentioned that) and think its great. Still carry laptop for backup but never used !!

[Dragonfly]

really really sorry but saw the thread title and couldn't resist .......

"How many songs will a laptop hold" ...........

all together now .....


"Before you call him a man " :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Silver]

Simple, really! Go external and for the biggest, say 500 GB. Trust me I've got about 6 under the bed from 40 GB's up to 120GB. you simply out grow them.

You never know what is around the corner, you might at some point in the future decide to use Ots. In which case you will need to convert Ots files so you'll need twice the room. Also you, as I have done might start using videos in which case you'll need even more space. So, as I said GO BIG, save money and don't forget back up, back up, back up and back up once more for luck.

[gaza]

Thanks for your advice guys.

[Larry B Entertainment]

Get the biggest external hard drive that you can afford as once you have it you have it. 500gb or even 1000gb drives now are so affordable and are cheaper than buying say 2 x 250gb or 2 x 500 gb.

[501damian501]

id rather buy 3.5inch hard drives with a spin rate of 7200rpm and sata connection.

[PropellerHeadCase]

Surprised that Vectis hasn't already extolled the virtues of the Freecom ToughDrive... so I will: Very tidy, sturdy little units and, although they only seem to go up to 250GB at the moment that covers the 15,000 I'm carrying. Also, whilst their RRP is around £125 I have picked 'em up for just over £100, delivered.

Also surprised that, with the IT heads hereabouts, no-one's pointed out that the size of the native (C:/) drive on a laptop is somewhat irrelevant to any calculations as to the songs you can fit on their as you need to retain a minimum of 25% free for the paging file and virtual RAM. And, yes, with XP 2GB is ideal, with Vista 2GB is a minimum (with a very lean install) you can go as high as 4GB (and probably should).

[djsteve10]

If you are looking for a cheap laptop and with the option of Windows Vista Or Windows XP Home Or Pro then why not take alook at Dell.
Also i always use external drives as many of the people have said on here if you encounter any problems with the machine its self your music can be plugged into another machine, I know a dj near me and he has all his music on a Toshiba laptop, on a 40gb hard drive (He was one of the 1st to go digital) the laptop has seen better days and is ready for the recycling yard any point now, He doesn't have any of the music backup he just carries a spair laptop with around 300 songs on it just incase, As i keep telling him if your laptop goes down and you can't salvage your music then you are going to have to Re-Rip it all again which we all know is a tiresome and troublesome task.

[Sapphire Disco]

I just put an extra 1GB of memory into my laptop for £15.00 easy to do seems to be running a lot smoother now with PCDJ.
But you can get a good high spec laptop now for £399.00 with more than enough disc space, I would only use an ex hard drive as back up cause if you drop it , need I say more ?

[djsteve10]

I just put an extra 1GB of memory into my laptop for £15.00 easy to do seems to be running a lot smoother now with PCDJ.
But you can get a good high spec laptop now for £399.00 with more than enough disc space, I would only use an ex hard drive as back up cause if you drop it , need I say more ?

Surely you would carry a spare external hard drive aswell anyway?

[ppentertainments]

I find the more HD space I use on the laptop the slower it runs. I always used external HD. Much easier to change laptops if one goes down also.

[Sapphire Disco]

Surely you would carry a spare external hard drive aswell anyway?

I have an external hard drive which I keep up to date as a master, I take 2 laptops and hard drive player with CD drawers and spare Cd's.

I once had an external hard drive which all of a sudden decided not to be recognised by both of my laptops and another which just died for no reason maybe it got a knock I don't know, but I feel safer having both laptops up to date and ready to use , I feel to rely on an external hard drive is just something else that could go wrong, no good having 2 working laptops and an external hard drive full of music that doesn't IMHO.

[Vectis]

How many songs will a laptop hold?

Four thousand nine hundred and ninety nine precisely :p

[nigelwright7557]

Hi guys.
If and that is a big if, (with this new licence now in force), i start using a laptop for djing, how many song would a laptop hold.
Lets say a 40gb or 80 gb hard drive.
I have seen on here that you guys use external hard drives, now is that because you have loads and loads and loads of music, or because an average laptop would not be able to cope with the amount of music that is needed to dj with.
I am still using cds at the moment, :eek: but i am toying with the laptop idea.
Thanks in advance.:)

Surely its quality rather than quantity that counts ?

Why carry hundreds of songs you either cant dance to or will never play.

Experience has shown me that there are certains songs that nearly always go down well and otehrs that clear the floor.

If you reckon on 2-3 megabytes per track then you work out how many will fit on a hard drive.

[Vectis]

If you reckon on 2-3 megabytes per track then you work out how many will fit on a hard drive.

Not at a decent sample rate :eek: Most of my 'typical' tracks are around the 10MB mark and the majority are 256Kbit/s or 320Kbit/s VBR

[PropellerHeadCase]

2-3 Megabytes? At 96kbps maybe.

A 3:20 track at 320kbps is about 8MB.

[nigelwright7557]

2-3 Megabytes? At 96kbps maybe.

A 3:20 track at 320kbps is about 8MB.

The wma files on my PC are between 2 and 4 megabytes.

The only big one is "Stairway to heaven" at 9 megabytes but that is a long track.

[Sapphire Disco]

Just thought it was worth a mention, I was in my local Tesco last night they had a Dell 250 GB hard drive & 3GB memory laptop for £278.00. looked like about 4 left, seemed like a good deal to me.

[djsteve10]

Just thought it was worth a mention, I was in my local Tesco last night they had a Dell 250 GB hard drive & 3GB memory laptop for £278.00. looked like about 4 left, seemed like a good deal to me.

That is an absolute steal,
I would definatley be buying that if they had it in the local store near me!

[Sapphire Disco]

That is an absolute steal,
I would definatley be buying that if they had it in the local store near me!

Guess what just been back there and they had been put out in the wrong place last night , they are now priced correctly at £429.00. which is still quite a good price.

[djsteve10]

Guess what just been back there and they had been put out in the wrong place last night , they are now priced correctly at £429.00. which is still quite a good price.

Should of bought it last night and took it to the till and when the £429.00 price came up you should of argued and said it was misleading information and they might of sold it to you at the £289 price :P

[PropellerHeadCase]

The wma files on my PC are between 2 and 4 megabytes.

The only big one is "Stairway to heaven" at 9 megabytes but that is a long track.

Ah, right, the industry standard, WMA :bang:

[Cj_The_Dj]

you can change the hard drive in the laptop. for a 200GB one. and you could get 50 thousand mp3 song on that.

[Excalibur]

you can change the hard drive in the laptop. for a 200GB one. and you could get 50 thousand mp3 song on that.

Why? Apart from the possible speed gain, what's wrong with an external HD?

[Cj_The_Dj]

Why? Apart from the possible speed gain, what's wrong with an external HD?


it makes more wiresto the rig, and takes up a usb on the laptop but i do have one for backup and i have preferred it ever since i up grated the laptop had didn't use the external.