I just downloaded the trial versions of PCDJ Red and VDJ.
All my music on iTunes has artist/track/album info but neither of the downloads picked all the info up.Most of the artists and album info was missing.
If I were to go digital I was assuming that the software would literally show every artist alphabetically exactly in the same way that iTunes does,whether I had 20 or 20,000 tracks.
Am I missing something here?

Some of your i-tunes files may be DRM protected. If you bought them from i-tunes directly then some of them certainly will be. This means they can't be played by any software program. Go into i-tunes and look at the file types, if some of them have "protected AAC" to the far right then these will not play in VDJ. You will have to burn them onto a cd, then re-import them to i-tunes, not sure what the legal implications of this are. If this is not the problem then I'm not sure, as all my i-tunes files play in VDJ no-problem.

It's not the playing thats the problem,they just dont list my tracks as I thought they would.

Hi Trev

I use vdj and itunes with no problem (direct downloads). the only issue i have is the way that itunes places tunes in folders so finding tracks may be a bit slow when searching manually

my folder structure is itunes>artist>album>track ot itunes>compliation>album>track

one way round this is right click the itunes folder then hit recurse, this lists the entire song collection in the root folder

hope this helps

Dave

You can use iTunes to convert from protected AAC to non-protected AAC. I would not recommend burning to CD, then re-ripping as this will reduce quality (compressed format> uncompressed CD>compressed format).
As a last resort, de-compress to WAV and use that to retain the best quality.

Legally, you'll be copying and format shifting - so a bit of a mess. IANAL, but probably not allowed with out ProDub at the very least..

Jas

News to me Jaz, I think it's illegal to convert protected/fairplay AAC to plain AAC. I'm not sure which button you use on iTunes but I can't find it??

I suspect that Produb won't protect you from the contract the buyer makes with iTUnes on m4p.

Your options for converting include:

a) Burning these tracks to audio cd and ripping them to another format
c) Recording them as they play on your soundcard by something like dMC Auxiliary Input ot Tunebite
c) Hymn or iOpener to convert .m4p to .m4a which dMC can decode.(http://www.hymn-project.org/ )

None of it is 'legal'. Even option 'a' is covered in iTunes' small print coz I'm sure they thought of that one a long time ago...

My Bad.... :-)
I have used iTunes for music purchases and got the dredded AAC. These have been converted via iTunes to MP3.
I try to steer clear of iTunes store for this reason. However, it wasn't anythign underhand- ie all native iTunes app stuff to do the conversion (ie, no hacks/3rd party software).
I wasn't sure if it was protected or not. Teach me to post whilst waiting for a meeting to start...

I'm just not sure if my purchase was protected AAC, or unprotected, it was about 1yr ago...

One reason to stick with open(ish) formats like MP3 or WAV, or purchase CD's where viable.

The bad news, is that if you read most download sites Terms - public performance, copying, renting etc is prohibited.

Not at all your bad. I doubt many DJ's could put their hand on their heart and say that they and their family members have never copied a track....

It's good, however, that on this forum the regular posters try to maintain the moral high ground. Especially as the regulating authorities themselves are in a complete mess!! I've visited other DJ forums where frankly it's a free-for-all.

Have a good weekend!

Teez, "my bad" meant I didn't explain myself/rushed my original reply. I didn't think if my purchase was protected or not. There were certainly no hassle or even additional funds required by iTunes to convert to MP3.



Never said that! lol I just don't do it professionally (or privately now)
Prior to starting out, I was faced with spending £zero on music, or adding to my collection by spending £££.
I chose the latter as I looked at the market and wanted to be legit, and also seen to be legit.

I'm only ever tempted when I can't aquire a track easily - so far, never needed to go down that route.




No real intent of higher moral ground here. I've a very strong belief that as a DJ buying mostly chart , I should not be penalised for needing to make back-ups, or shift into a suitable format.
Music/CD sales must surely be being kept alive by DJ's... I don't actually know anyone that buys music unless its christmas/birthday time....

Lots of confusion on legalities, and also the old idea of you "own" the music and can do what you like with it.

Personally if you have paid for the CD, then playing those tracks on a CDR/different format at a private party should not result in legal problems.
If you did not purchase the CD and are playing with pirated (illegal downloads/copied from mates etc) music, then you should be prosecuted.

Obviously, the same applies to those that are not registered for TAX/NI. Let 'em swing I say ! lol

Those in the other forums that are happy to promote this way of working are only hampering the profession, and ultimately their long term income.


Back to TREV, try to find the file format. I did have some protected WMA files (Windows Audio), and these needed to be authorised - this was about 2 years ago. I royal pain, as I may great pains to keep the PC "clean" and never go online...
VDJ work though (I remember seeing a pop-up that requested my login to 7Digital), once authorised, the track would play in VDJ. Obviously, I had to ensure any new music was authorised before hitting the road...

So... if the track is protected, you may need to a: see if VDJ will actually play protected AAC, and b: possibly authorise it on your DJ PC (if its not the PC you purchased them on).

Jason

I believe all itunes store files are now unprotected and 256 bit rate, i use it at gigs if somebody requests an obscure track that I don't have, I download it there and then, very handy as it is the quickest way to download a track, we don't have the pro-dub here in Ireland. Until recently most itunes files were 128bit protected files, not good for djing. They seem to have loosened up on the issue for some reason.