Hey everyone, I am new to the forums and am starting to collect massive amounts of music so I may begin DJing.

I understand Beatport is the recognized standard for downloading music, but if I can find the EXACT same TRACK and MIX on iTunes can I buy it from there?

I know Beatport has 320 MP3 but iTunes is 128 AAC which is also good. Is one better than the other? Does it really matter? Im going to start out DJing in my room with a hometheater soundsystem but once i get a bigger place (after dorm room) i will buy some big speakers so sound quality may then matter.

Im ranting now, any help would be great!

Use whatever works for you.

There are loads of other on line stores to choose from, use these when you cannot find the track you're after at Beatport or iTunes.

Jarv

Alright, now I am looking at the CDJ200s so can I just burn CDs and pop them in and thats it? I know burning reduces sound quality but thats the only way I think.

Oh yeah, and in iTunes would i burn as a Audio or MP3 Disc?

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Originally posted by mtaylor459 Alright, now I am looking at the CDJ200s so can I just burn CDs and pop them in and thats it? I know burning reduces sound quality but thats the only way I think. Oh yeah, and in iTunes would i burn as a Audio or MP3 Disc?

Burn as audio disc, less compatibility issues. And burning won't really have a noticable effect on sound quality if you're doing it from an mp3. That's only true if your source file is of higher quality than CD format (like .wav).

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okay there is still one HUGE difference between the two stores (i have over 4,000 downloads from the two combined). for the most part (music label EMI aside) itunes still has digital rights management (DRM) on their files... so if you want to eventually use a program like serato scratch live or equivalent you will be unable to use itunes files. if you can get around that (burning CD is one way) then you have the advantage of paying $0.99/song. beatport files have no DRM but are anywhere from $1.49 and up.

if you are just playing out CDs then i don't think either will make a huge difference... sup. the itunes files at 128 kbps in their .m4p format are close to, if not equal, to 320 kbps .mp3s.

like mentioned above... use many different stores to find what you need. there are other big stores like audiojelly.com and trackitdown.net just to name two.

Perfect. Thanks alot for the quick help.

DO NOT USE ITUNES!!!!!!!!!!!!

the mp3's encrypted and cannot be burnt onto CD

just go beatport anyways!!!

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Originally posted by theognis1002 DO NOT USE ITUNES!!!!!!!!!!!! the mp3's encrypted and cannot be burnt onto CD just go beatport anyways!!!

not true, unless they changed it since the last time i used it... you could just burn the files onto a cd through itunes. and you can later rip them into regular mp3 files after that, if you want.

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Originally posted by JD8180 not true, unless they changed it since the last time i used it... you could just burn the files onto a cd through itunes. and you can later rip them into regular mp3 files after that, if you want.

correct... believe you are allowed to burn the files 5 times to CD. and yes, you must use itunes to do the burning.

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Originally posted by keithos27 correct... believe you are allowed to burn the files 5 times to CD. and yes, you must use itunes to do the burning.

but i believe if you were to burn them to a cd via itunes, and later rip the tracks off the newly burnt cd, then they don't have any of those security features... w/e they're called.

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Originally posted by JD8180 but i believe if you were to burn them to a cd via itunes, and later rip the tracks off the newly burnt cd, then they don't have any of those security features... w/e they're called.

that is correct... but you really have to wonder about taking a mastered audio file... converting it to a .m4p file (what itunes music store sells), then converting that to cd-audio, then converting to .mp3... i assume there is some audio degredation going on in that process (taking a lossy format, converting to cd, then converting again to a lossy format).

Yeah you do lose soem quality by doing what was just stated. But I will not be ripping them from the CD again after I burn a CD. The CD will play fine in my CDJ and thats all I need.

I will, however, run into problems if i decided to do Ableton Live or Traktor Scratch and what not because they dont play the iTunes AAC format. And then for each track I bought from iTunes I would have to burn to CD, import back into iTunes from CD into a 320kbps MP3 format which can be chosen from iTunes options and customize the import style to 320 MP3.

Its all do able but could turn into a small hassle if I got software.