Building your Music Library
Here are 4 ways to add music to your library.
1. Music Organizer
2. Crawler
3. iTunes2ddj
4. Direct Entry
It is possible to load music using any or all of the above options
concurrently. Each method has its own particular advantage and we encourage you to explore all
four options, exploring the
options will give your a good feel for how to best manage your music library.
As a new user or
One Hour DJ you have an option. You don't
need to read on, adding music has never been easier. You can cut to the chase
and download the
Crawler and
or
iTunes2ddj
and load your your music in a matter of minutes. Come back when after loading
to better understand what you just accomplished and see other options.
1.
Music Organizer
The
Music Organizer has a mp3 import option that has historically been the
main method for importing music into
ddj Suite. It has several limitations,
first, it requires
music to be stored in a subfolder in the \Music directory (e.g.
e:\Music\Oldies) and second, music is always imported into the main playlist
only. These are not usually serious limitations the \Music directory is
often a great way to organize music
and simplifies backup operations. Also since ddj players search for music in \Music
directories across all mapped drives (starting at c: and ending at z:). This
allows music to be easily moved to different drives or even written to memory
sticks and played on other computers. The
Music Organizer mp3 imported is
limited to loading music from one subdirectory at a time and is limited to
utilizing only the id3v1 tag information in mp3 music.
2. Crawler
The
Crawler is a powerful workhorse. It loads music by crawling through directory structures including
all subdirectories it encounters. If the starting directory is d:\ it searches
the entire drive. The
Crawler usually loads more music than any other option
and can often glean more information from the music it encounters as it utilizes
both the older id3v1 tags as well as the newer id3v2 tags. The
Crawler is
capable of loading any file extension specified, music, video or other.
3.
iTunes2ddj
iTunes2ddj scrapes information from iTunes playlists. Select an iTunes
playlist and it loads to a display grid for optional editing before
importing. This option has obvious advantages for users synching iPods and
iPhones as the playlists and most playlist information will be identical on
your computer and your remote player. Playlists contain much of
the iTunes music information as well as additional ddj control fields (e.g.
playback rate, start and stop points, video attachments, marquee info. etc.).
iTunes2ddj requires iTunes to be installed and is limited to the music or
video files that iTunes has recognized and placed on a playlist. iTunes playlists are not altered in any manner.
4. Direct Entry
There are no restrictions on adding, editing or modifying playlist or
records. In fact, the entire database can be personalized by adding personal
fields or in other ways. Be aware that removing or altering certain critical fields
will render the database unreadable for the ddj Suite.
Summary
Each of the four load options consolidate all music references to a single
common database. Work done on the music library including adding new music, playlists and records
modifications are retained to a single data point As
music is played using a ddj player player control actions, such as a volume
control adjustment, is also captured to this single data point. Encapsulating
to a single database point has many advantages including facilitating backup
and restore operations and allowing easy export and import from other computers.
Note -
The
Music Organizer has a powerful export capability that quickly
copies both the database and any or all music between computer or drives.
The
Music Organizer is part of and installed with the
ddj Suite.
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