Blackcurrants, Apples, and for all I know, Pears as well!

[Excalibur]

Forgive an old fool who's struggling with technology, but I read that some of you are using all manner of fruit to download tunes/smurf t'interweb, and lots of other things beyond my ken. :o :o

I've read posts from other folk like me bemoaning the sporadic and intermittent internet coverage from Laptop/Dongle combination, whether other networks would help I don't know. :confused: :confused: :confused:

Somebody the other night reckoned these phones that can download mp3's are a better bet, and work everywhere. True, or total :Censored: ? I've got no idea. :o

[discomobiledj]

For an emergency download then I'm not sure you can go far wrong with an Iphone. I've only had mine a couple of months but knowing that it can very quickly get me out of trouble (as long as 3G is available in the area of course!)

[Excalibur]

For an emergency download then I'm not sure you can go far wrong with an Iphone. I've only had mine a couple of months but knowing that it can very quickly get me out of trouble (as long as 3G is available in the area of course!)

But that's my point. If I had 3G service for the dongle I wouldn't need a phone. ;) So the phones are equally dependent on/sporadic in network coverage? :confused: :confused: :confused:

[discomobiledj]

But that's my point. If I had 3G service for the dongle I wouldn't need a phone. ;) So the phones are equally dependent on/sporadic in network coverage? :confused: :confused: :confused:

The signal does have to be bad to switch over to the basic setting and it's only done that when I've been in a supermarket at the back of the store.

[Vectis]

The fruity phone will use the best available network for data at any given time. So if WiFi is available (and you have access) it'll use that. Failing WiFi, if HSDPA ("3G") is available, it'll use that. Failing 3G, it'll look for EDGE ("2.75G"/"2.5G") and use that. If all else fails, it'll fall back to 2G (GSM) which is very poor but is OK for background email grabs etc.

Now, the problem is that iTunes refuses to work over 2.5G or lower - it's just one of those things the network operators insist on to ensure the networks are usable by the rest of the populace, I guess!

I've found there are VERY few places I can't get WiFi and/or 3G and there are some sticksy places down here I can assure you :o

[rob1963]

Forgive an old fool who's struggling with technology, but I read that some of you are using all manner of fruit to download tunes/smurf t'interweb, and lots of other things beyond my ken. :o :o

I've read posts from other folk like me bemoaning the sporadic and intermittent internet coverage from Laptop/Dongle combination, whether other networks would help I don't know. :confused: :confused: :confused:

Somebody the other night reckoned these phones that can download mp3's are a better bet, and work everywhere. True, or total :Censored: ? I've got no idea. :o

As a fellow person not too hot on technology, and someone who also likes things to be simple, easy to understand & do what it says on the tin, I can highly recommend a Nokia 3410.

Mine is fantastic!

:D :D :D

[JAMdisco]

As a fellow person not too hot on technology, and someone who also likes things to be simple, easy to understand & do what it says on the tin, I can highly recommend a Nokia 3410.

Mine is fantastic!

:D :D :D

I thought you'd be more of a CB radio person :p ;) :D

Over.

[rob1963]

I thought you'd be more of a CB radio person :p ;) :D

Over.

I WAS...about 30 years ago!

Over and out.

[Disco Tech Liverpool]

I have one network for my mobile broadband on my laptop and my phone is with another network. On the odd occassion that the laptop dongle doesn't get a signal then the phone always will, I then just drag the song from the phone to the computer. Every DJ should be able to say that they can play ANY song. I advertise as having access to 3.5 million songs at any gig, which I have... although only 24000 are actually with me !!!

[Vectis]

I advertise as having access to 3.5 million songs at any gig, which I have...

Wow - that's one hell of a ProDub fee! :eek: :eek: :eek:


although only 24000 are actually with me !!!

Come to think of it, so is that! :eek:


Unless of course....







... no, I won't say it :zip:

[rob1963]

Every DJ should be able to say that they can play ANY song.

Sorry, but I completely disagree.

Would you expect a library to have every book ever printed, a florist to have every flower or a record shop to have every CD ever released?


I advertise as having access to 3.5 million songs at any gig, which I have... although only 24000 are actually with me !!!

What's the point of advertising that you have access to 3.5 million songs, when that doesn't even account of half of the music released?

Whether you have access to 3,500 songs or 3.5 million songs you could still be asked for something you DON'T have access to!

Also, how many of those 3.5 million songs would you actually play if someone came up & requested them?

[Excalibur]

Sadly I'm with Rob on this one, it's unrealistic to expect DJ's to have everything. That's why folk get excited when you have the track they didn't expect. :D :D

As for Produb, if you had umpteen million at home "for private use", and took you allotted number on the road, would you still comply if you moved tracks on a one in one out basis, thus never exceeding your quota? :confused: :confused: :confused: Betcha Produb haven't thought of that. :D :D

[CRAZY K]

Sadly I'm with Rob on this one, it's unrealistic to expect DJ's to have everything. That's why folk get excited when you have the track they didn't expect. :D :D

As for Produb, if you had umpteen million at home "for private use", and took you allotted number on the road, would you still comply if you moved tracks on a one in one out basis, thus never exceeding your quota? :confused: :confused: :confused: Betcha Produb haven't thought of that. :D :D

But wouldnt you be spending a lot of time moving tracks around --making your time overheads a lot more and effectively reducing your hourly rate?

Just a thought;)

Playlist in advance would be another one:D

CRAZY K

[Silver]

My two penneth on this ... A couple of weeks ago a drunk young girl asked me for a Pink track that I did not have. So I asked her if I should have every Bon Jovi song, every Dean Martin song, every Eric Clapton song etc. She said I should!

She got quite irate saying that I should have ALL her songs ever made. So I asked her if, based on her logic, I should have all songs of all artists ever made to be ready to play any possible request totally millions. She replied "Yes of course you should!" My reply was "Well in that case I wouldn't be here as a mobile dj, I would probably be a multi millionaire, on a beach with a cold drink to hand!" I accept she was the worse for wear but she meant it.

The idea a mobile dj should be be able to offer millions of tracks is simply quite ludicrous, not workable.

[Daryll]

I have just looked at my playlists for the last 12 months.

537 different tracks , out of 15000.
I rest my case.

Daryll

[Silver]

I have just looked at my playlists for the last 12 months.

537 different tracks , out of 15000.
I rest my case.

Daryll

That supports my own thoughts. I've about 8,000 tracks and have guessed I play around 1,000 - 1,500 out of them. Looks like it could be even less!

http://planetsmilies.net/music-smiley-7528.gif

[spin mobile disco]

Same as you lot I have around 10000 on the D2 but of those only about 1200 are in constant curculation the rest are there just in case really. Lots of songs are released that drop to such obscurity that you simply could not find them on any internet site. But if your asked for it Of course we would all try to find it but at the end of the day if its not possible its not posible. Don't stress just ask them if they can think of another song they would like.

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Just my 2 pence worth too. This "a dj should have everything" is a direct result (IMO) of the 21st Century Jukebox. They are in all the pubs round here and have a connection to the interweb. You look up the artist alphabetically and then choose the song. It stores a couple of thousand in its internal memory and overwrites as popular/most requested tracks come up. Last time i seen a promo flyer from the company they were advertising a jukebox with over 2 million possible tracks. Granted thats not alot inthe way of world music, but its pushed peoples expectations up.

[PropellerHeadCase]

I've found it tends to go a bit like this:
20000 tracks, total
2000 tracks played at least once a year
200 tracks played regularly
20 tracks played at virtually every gig

[rob1963]

The most important requests (whether obscure or not) are those requested by the client who is paying you, and I'm sure that like me most people ask for the client's requests in advance...so there's plenty of time to source them & let the client know if you have any problems with this.

That leaves the less important requests - the ones asked for by punters on the night, and if they request something we haven't got, it's probably so obscure or such a floor-clearer that we wouldn't play it anyway!

A year ago, I only had about 5,000 songs, but still found I had well over 90% of all requests. I'm now working towards 10,000...which I think is plenty, so I will stop when I get there (later this year) apart from the new stuff, of course.

[Disco Tech Liverpool]

If you are being paid to do a job and somebody requests a song then you should be able to play it, even if it costs you 60 pence. However, the professional side of your job should be to make a decision on whether that song would fit the format of the party and if it would be fitting to play it. The reason I offer access to 3.5 million songs is because somewhere along the line a bride or a birthday girl or whatever will come up to you and ask for a song on the night. It may be a regular song that you just haven't got, but you would look through your tunes and think to yourself 'I would have thought I'd have that song'. Now in my opinion you are being paid to provide a service, why shouldn't you be able to buy that song there and then and play it ? There is no reason not to really is there ?

[rob1963]

If you are being paid to do a job and somebody requests a song then you should be able to play it, even if it costs you 60 pence.

As I said before, I disagree.

If you are being paid to do a job, it's the client that booked you who is paying you, and I'm sure most people will ask for the client to provide their requests in advance. This gives us time to make sure we have them, try to source any which we dont, and advise the client if we have problems finding any of their requests.

If a punter comes up to us on the night with a request, we'll have it most of the time anyway, and if we don't, it doesn't matter, because we can NEVER have everything that might get requested, and that's true whether we have 3.5 thousand songs or access to 3.5 million songs.


The reason I offer access to 3.5 million songs is because somewhere along the line a bride or a birthday girl or whatever will come up to you and ask for a song on the night. It may be a regular song that you just haven't got, but you would look through your tunes and think to yourself 'I would have thought I'd have that song'.

I'd be interested to know how many people book you because you offer access to over 3.5 million songs.


Now in my opinion you are being paid to provide a service, why shouldn't you be able to buy that song there and then and play it ? There is no reason not to really is there ?

Because it's not necessary.

If it WAS, wouldn't EVERY disco be advertising & doing this?

[Excalibur]

Hey look, here's a handy fence, hang on while I jump up and sit on it. :D
Rob's point that we don't need 3million songs to do a disco is undeniably valid, and others have said that they regularly use less than a thousand. However, it doesn't seem good practice to me to tell a punter, " Sorry, cos you didn't give me six months notice in writing of your request, and it's not in my system, then tough" !:eek: :eek: :( :(

In my quest for customer satisfaction, and a desire to show off and look flashy, I have on occasion at venues where I could get internet access somehow, been known to spend as much as £3.50 downloading requests. Doesn't half make a dint in my £50 fee. :cry: :cry: :cry:

[CRAZY K]

Hey look, here's a handy fence, hang on while I jump up and sit on it. :D
Rob's point that we don't need 3million songs to do a disco is undeniably valid, and others have said that they regularly use less than a thousand. However, it doesn't seem good practice to me to tell a punter, " Sorry, cos you didn't give me six months notice in writing of your request, and it's not in my system, then tough" !:eek: :eek: :( :(

In my quest for customer satisfaction, and a desire to show off and look flashy, I have on occasion at venues where I could get internet access somehow, been known to spend as much as £3.50 downloading requests. Doesn't half make a dint in my £50 fee. :cry: :cry: :cry:

I often download in excess of 10 tracks for Weddings because I dont have the worlds largest collection of music---I prefer to find out what they really like--and buy it for the function.

For Weddings and Private Parties we ought to introduce Sound Tech to that thing called---






























AN ADVANCED PLAYLIST

Best idea in ages and avoids any embarrassment on the night:D

CRAZY K

[Excalibur]

Playlists? A curse on them. :Censored: Turns us into a big jukebox with flashing lights.

( Lights blue touchpaper, and retires. ;) :D :D )

[rob1963]

However, it doesn't seem good practice to me to tell a punter, "Sorry, cos you didn't give me six months notice in writing of your request, and it's not in my system, then tough" !

Except we don't say that. I don't know about anyone else, but on the rare occasions where I don't have a punter's request, I just say "Sorry - I haven't got that one" It's hardly the end of the world.

After all, how often have we gone into a shop for something, only to discover they don't have what we want. It happens!


For Weddings and Private Parties we ought to introduce Sound Tech to that thing called---AN ADVANCED PLAYLIST

Best idea in ages and avoids any embarrassment on the night:D

If you mean request list, I completely agree, and that's exactly what I do. Last night I had a list of nearly 100 requests & only got through 40 in the time available, and for tonight I have 120 requests!


Playlists? A curse on them. :Censored: Turns us into a big jukebox with flashing lights.

If by playlists you mean a list of all songs to be played AND the order in which to play them, then I agree. However, if you simply mean a list of requests, then I disagree.

[Excalibur]

Except we don't say that. I don't know about anyone else, but on the rare occasions where I don't have a punter's request, I just say "Sorry - I haven't got that one" It's hardly the end of the world.
.
Ah yes, but since all your gigs are the same, you only need three hundred tunes. :p :D :D


If you mean request list, I completely agree, and that's exactly what I do. Last night I had a list of nearly 100 requests & only got through 40 in the time available, and for tonight I have 120 requests! .

Whatever happened to the spirit of adventure? :confused: Too cosy you lot. :p :D :D



If by playlists you mean a list of all songs to be played AND the order in which to play them, then I agree. However, if you simply mean a list of requests, then I disagree.

Ah well, in those circumstances, I'd advise you didn't reply in stentorian tones " Listen pal, as a professional DJ I know best what to play, now bog off and stop annoying me!" ;)
My considered advice would be to :zip: and trouser the folding stuff. :D :D

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Yes, every DJ should be able to offer 3.5 million songs...

:lol:

Where do we get some of the members on here....

[rob1963]

Yes, every DJ should be able to offer 3.5 million songs...

:lol:

Where do we get some of the members on here....

I have no idea, Darren...but I'm pretty sure he's serious!

:shrug:

[Excalibur]

I have no idea, Darren...but I'm pretty sure he's serious!

:shrug:

And more power to his elbow I say. We need more serious stuff om here, with all the lighthearted, mischievous, flippant and downright silly stuff some folk come out with. ;)

Excalibur signing off, dear pot, love kettle............:D :D :D :D :D

[rob1963]

And more power to his elbow I say. We need more serious stuff om here, with all the lighthearted, mischievous, flippant and downright silly stuff some folk come out with. ;)

Excalibur signing off, dear pot, love kettle............:D :D :D :D :D

I completely agree!

By the way, did you know that before a gig I have access to over 10 million songs?

:D :D :D

[DeckstarDeluxe]

what happeans if theres a proplem with accessing the internet where you are? Someone has booked with you with that promise?

[rob1963]

what happeans if theres a problem with accessing the internet where you are? Someone has booked with you with that promise?

That doesn't apply to myself, as I'm not interested in having internet access at gigs. The 10 million songs I have access to is BEFORE the gig. In other words at home.

As for the guy who promises access to 3.5 million songs AT gigs, I guess if there's no internet access he'll have to break that promise.

:shrug:

[DeckstarDeluxe]

That doesn't apply to myself, as I'm not interested in having internet access at gigs. The 10 million songs I have access to is BEFORE the gig. In other words at home.

As for the guy who promises access to 3.5 million songs AT gigs, I guess if there's no internet access he'll have to break that promise.

:shrug:

thats who I was addressing the question to..

I mean you get signal dead spots, laptops crash/break down, websites down for maintaince, thinking ub40 is the same as culture club all mannor of weird and wonderful protential issues

[rob1963]

I mean you get signal dead spots, laptops crash/break down, websites down for maintaince

Exactly...which is a very good reason why it's NOT a good idea to promise access to 3.5 million songs at a gig.

I wonder what happens if someone goes up to the guy to request a song he hasn't got, only to be told he can't play it due to not being able to get a signal or whatever other reason?

:shrug:

[Excalibur]

Exactly...which is a very good reason why it's NOT a good idea to promise access to 3.5 million songs at a gig.

I wonder what happens if someone goes up to the guy to request a song he hasn't got, only to be told he can't play it due to not being able to get a signal or whatever other reason?

:shrug:

It's bicycle time. ;) :D :D :D

[CRAZY K]

Playlists? A curse on them. :Censored: Turns us into a big jukebox with flashing lights.

( Lights blue touchpaper, and retires. ;) :D :D )

Seen this below Peter?

So if the client wants a big jukebox--give it to them and charge for the pleasure---

Unless your a clairvoyant of course:confused:

Music & Play Lists

Ask the DJ what kinds of music they carry with them. These days all good DJ's will carry a wide and varied selection of music. If you are after a paticular kind of music, ask them what they have in that genre. Most DJ's these days will accept play lists, where you can specify what tracks to play and what not to play. These are a good idea and usually helps the DJ in knowing what your musical taste is. I recommend having a playlist for 60% of the evening with the DJ filling in the rest. This gives the DJ the chance to keep the dancefloor busy should they need to change the music slightly to please all your guests.

Check to see that the DJ has your chosen first and if any, last dance. With the resources available these days to purchase music, this should not be a problem. You could always bring your own CD's along if the DJ is short of a few specialist tracks.

Guess where this is from---our own Association website;)

CRAZY K

[Excalibur]

Thanks for that heads up Alan. ;)
Those of you who have been on here for a while will have twigged that not everything I type on here is my sincere and heartfelt belief. I have on rare occasions been known to post things simply to incite reaction. :eek:


Re playlists, some folk hate them with a vengeance, others regard them as vital. I have seen people say they've had instructions to adhere rigidly to playlists with no deviation allowed, even if the majority of punters wanted it. Not ideal obviously, but as has been well documented before, ...................











"He who pays the Piper calls the tune". ;)

[Jonathan Ford]

Yes, every DJ should be able to offer 3.5 million songs...

:lol:

Makes me glad I switched from vinyl....

[Excalibur]

Makes me glad I switched from vinyl....

When I used to carry the vinyl in it certainly used to feel like 3.5million songs. ;) :( :(

[rob1963]

I still want to know why the OP only advertises access to 3.5 million songs, when he's also said that we should be able to play ANY song.

I wonder if he will answer me?

The biggest music retailer in the world is itunes, but even THEY don't have every song. I've had occasions when I've had a request for something I don't have, come home to look it up on itunes, only to find it's not on there...and they have more than 10 million songs, rather than a paltry 3.5 million!

:shrug: