That opening paragraph was written in 1999 when there were a lot less innovations in CD players (and a lot less for vinyl too - but that's not as applicable). I'm going to stick my neck out now, as I'm four years older, four years more experience, and the two formats are now SO close in abilities that it comes down to (in my mind)

1) Dj'ing with vinyl is cool.

2) Dj'ing with CD's shows you're technically 'with it' - but pressing buttons on any CD unit will NEVER look as cool as vinyl.

IMHO..... Sorry.

The first thing that you'll have to decide when buying CD units is whether you're planning on using Top Loading or Tray loading systems. Both styles have their good and bad points, but in the end it all comes down to your own preferences.

The good thing about tray loading units is the amount of space the take up - not much! The thing about them is that the controller (with all the dials etc) can be separated from the actual Cd players (the bottom half of this picture). What this enables you to do is to screw the players under the dj booth, so that when opened, the trays hit you in the nuts!! But, it then means that you can mount the controller wherever you want - flat before the mixer, raised above the mixer, whatever. But if done right, then this style can really save on space.

My main complaint with this twin tray style is to do with that space saving. Some of the units have got it right, but a lot of them have decided to cram the control units with so many buttons and controls that it starts to get a bit fiddly at times. There's also a problem with some of the displays not being backlit. Ok, all of them are easy to see in the dark, but I prefer the larger, backlit displays (like the one pictured) to the smaller "white light" ones (like Denon's DN2000F).

The top loading systems like Pioneers CDJ500's are really popular in the better clubs due to their recent innovations leading to them being almost a vinyl deck now.

Personally, I'd be in heaven if everywhere I went they used these units over the tray loading type, but as they're expensive, and can take up a lot of room, most clubs opt for the twin units.

The things (in my mind) that makes them a touch above the rest is the size of the controls on them. That huge jog wheel is great to use. None of this finger and thumb thing, trying to move the wheel the very slightest of distance to try to get to the next frame. There's a Master Tempo control on it which means that you can lock the pitch of the tune, and adjust the speed of the song so that you don't end up chipmunking the vocals. The display isn't backlit like the ones I was on about, but it's a lot larger than the normal twin units separate displays, so it doesn't matter much and then there's the seamless loop controls on it too, where you can select an IN and OUT point, hit loop and it will just go IN-OUt, IN-OUT, IN-OUT over and over again without a break.

Oh yeah, and it has to be said that it's a lot quicker to get your CD's in and out with a top loading unit, rather than having to wait for the tray to spit out your CD on the other kinds!

The big thing now (as of Dec 2003) with this style is the CDJ1000's from Pioneer - that can now scratch - well. You can do all the normal scratch moves that a vinyl deck will do, you can do spinbacks, instant reverse, stop the tune with your hand - literally anything which is cool - and which has lead to them really boosting their popularity - not only as the CD deck of choice, but now as the format of choice by a lot of Dj's and pubs/clubs.

I said before about them taking up quite a lot of room. It's true, they can take up a lot, but Pioneer made a nice stand to go with them, meaning you can mount them above the mixer, at an angle of up to 30 degrees. The great thing about the Pioneer products though is that they are all linked together (kind of). When the CDJ500's are connected to either the Pioneer DJM5/6/300 mixers, they work in harmony with each other. When the fader for the CD channel is lifted on the mixer, the CD starts playing! and when the fader returns, the CD goes back to its cue point - FANTASTIC!! Same goes for the X-fader - not just the channel faders.

For my money, Pioneer CD decks are definately the way to go if you have the money, but I'm not going to bang on about the Pioneer stuff anymore, it's great equipment, and well worth the money. Numark do the Axis 9 CD deck, which is similar in functions as the Pioneer ones, and you can get some nice packages wit hthe Matrix 2 mixer frokm HTFR, but I'd still shoot for the CDj1000's if I wanted CD decks.

So the first decision has been made. You now know whether you want a twin tray unit or a top loading table top unit to play your CD's on. The next thing you need to think about it the control of the tune that you want. There's a lot on offer to the budding Dj. There's loop controls and master tempo - like with the Pioneer CDj500's, there's BPM counters (most are buttons that you tap in time to the beat though) there's the speed of startup of the CD (most are around 0.01seconds), there's multiple cue points, and there's the capacity to handle the club bass, known as ANTI-SHOCK. If the unit has ANTI-SHOCK, then try to get one with the longest memory buffer just in case. The Numark CDN-34 has a six second buffer (it holds 6 seconds in it's memory, so if the CD skips, it'll play the music from the memory until things get sorted (or the 6 seconds are up) and this is one of the lower lengths of memory. It used to be a big deal, wit hthe 6 seconds I mentioned above being a big thing, but now Anti-shock has been refined so well that as long as you look into it, you can't really go wrong. I've been told of a few sales people who will play a CD, then drop the unit on the floor, just to demonstrate the effectiveness of the ANTI-SHOCK - a bit extreme if you ask me!!

So that covers the design, some of the functions, and probably pretty much what one to go for (if you've already got a budget), but there is still ONE more huge question. Why use CD or Vinyl, or Vinyl over CD's?

Personally, I don't use CD much. I've just got into the habit of buying Vinyl over CD whenever I had the choice. But more likely, there isn't a CD version of the stuff I like to play - and though it's an option to buy it on vinyl, burn it to CD, and play it from that, I still prefer to use vinyl, and I'm not going to use a CD unless it's 100% necessary. I also don't hook up my CDJ500 at home all the time, (mostly coz I don't use CD's - even more so because there's not enough room on the unit I use for it!!!!!). Not that it requires any special practice to translate your knowledge of mixing on vinyl to Cd's, it only took me about 30mins to learn how to mix on CD (but that's because I'd already had the beat-matching think down through using vinyl - all I had to do was learn what the controls did) it's just that with practice you get to know your tunes, and instinctively get to know what goes with what. If you don't practice with trial and error, then you may mess up, and I don't like risking it.

Other reasons I don't use Cd's much are that though they are becoming a lot more commonplace, not everywhere has twin CD decks, let alone one, so I wouldn't like to rely on it if I was working in a new place. And, I'll say again, I prefer using vinyl, but not because I don't like CD's (If you get what I mean) Below are the reasons why.

For vinyl :- Finding the exact cue point half way through a record is a lot quicker, because you can see it -OK, you can use the time indicators on the CD player, just remember where the cue point should be, and scan to it, but that seems a bit too much like work!

You can do drop-ins really easily on vinyl (not that you can't do them on CD's but it depends how quick you want them, and where-abouts in the track they are).

Spinbacks, scratching, power offs, all these things aren't available on all CD decks. Though some manufacturers say "Experiment with the jog control for some exiting scratch effects" Bollocks. The ones I've used suck at that!! If it's not a CDJ1000, I'd not like to try.

Lastly, I just like 'working' the vinyl, the fact that it's under your hand. The fight with the slipmat, the slippyness when you start to sweat, all these things add to my experience when I'm playing - and I still believe it looks cooler than just pressing a couple of buttons.......

For CD's:- The ability to cue the beginning of a track on CD instantaneously is damned helpful sometimes. Being able to start it, work out if it's out of time, press stop, then start, and be able to re-check a damn site faster than on vinyl can really pull you out of a squeeze sometimes.

When you're about to start the tune, you don't have that annoyance of the needle jumping out of the groove due to wear on the record or the neefle. Loop controls on the better models can really beef up a mix, keeping the crescendo going far longer than the artist intended can really whip up a storm if you do it in the right place. You can do it on vinyl, with two copies of the same record, but the possibility of really messing up is too big.

The larger record companies have started to release a lot of the better mixes on CD nowadays (which really pisses me off, how dare they try to force my hand one way or the other by retarding the options on one format) so if you have the choice between the two, examine what one has the better variety to offer you.

They hold time perfectly. There's no problem with 'wow and flutter', where the deck speeds up or slows down very slightly, which can throw out a mix if you're not paying attention.

Lastly, CD's are a damn sight smaller than vinyl, meaning you can carry twice as much in half the space. A guy I worked with transferred all of his Vinyl on to CD, about 1800 tunes in all (and that was 3 years ago), and carried them around in a single zip up CD case. But hey, at least humping around all those record bags keeps you fit!!

Neither is best at the what it's built for; it depends where you are working, whether you can practice at home, how strong you are, exactly what kind of mixing you want to do and much more (including aesthetics).

Just think about exactly the kind of things you aim for as a DJ and the answer on what is best will be completely clear. Or do what most people do. Use both! You will find that the better set-ups in clubs have vinyl and Cd systems, why not be the same at home? Ok, it'll add about £200-£1000 to your equipment costs, but if you're really that indecisive.....

Here's more info about it. It's a couple of months since I updated this page, and I still get asked what's better, so there's obviously not enough good info STILL on here. So - here's the latest Q and A:

Q) I've recently come to a point in my life where I have disposable income, and have rekindled a desire to get a set of decks and learn hot to mix. I've read your cd vs vinyl assessment and to be honest, I can pretty much forget about the cool factor at 33. As a longtime enthusiast though do you think I would get more satisfaction out of vinyl decks? - please relate to your own experience I have about a grand to spend in view of what you know about my situation what would you suggest. Any assistance would be very gratefully received.

A) The best way to answer the CD vs vinyl dilemma with anyone is to ask why you want to do it. If it's purely to mix music together - then either format is viable - and as you have so many Cd's and access anyway - that may be the way to go. There's a good chance the availability of vinyl may be limited in Dubai (purely a guess based on people in Greece, Turkey and Saudi - all who say it's nigh on impossible to get tunes on 12".

However, not to let that last sentence put you off - if your desire to DJ stems from seeing dj's mix 12"s, and you've always wanted to do it - ask yourself if it's the mixing, or the turntabalism that's most appealing. If you like the thought or working the vinyl, flicking through the boxes of tunes, and dealing with Technics decks etc - you'll probably feel unfullfilled if you mix on Cd.

I know that although I came the decision I'd like to be a Dj after HEARING Sasha mix on Radio 1 - seeing him mix live at the Arches in Glasgow sealed it for me - and it DEFININTELY was the vinyl thing that swung it for me. Until then, I was humming and ha-ing about whether I wan't to get into it - but I was completely captivated by what he was doing with records.

A couple of weeks later, I went to a club where the guy was only using Cd's. And seeing him just slot in the CD's - picking them all up off a tower of Cd's stacked ontop of un-used 1210's - was killing me. It's like stepping over Cameron Diaz to get to Rosanne Barr!

But - again, I was completely sold on wanting to be a super-star Dj - and it was as much about the look of Dj'ing as it was about mixing good music; of being in a booth with my boxes, picking out the plastic - and I'll happily admit now - it's was about wanting to look cool when doing it. But - fortunately, the narcissism wore off after a couple of days of being crap at it!! And, though the mixing of music took precedence really quickly - it was still better to do it on 12's. The nights I'd have to use Cd's as there were either problems with decks - or just not there (bad times...) it just didn't feel right to me. It just didn't feel like DJ'ing.

So there you have it. The format choice from my point of view. In fact I think I'll upload that on the site. (I did, you're reading it) Hopefully, the honest approach to my vanity in choosing will drive it home to some people.

Don't let my love of working with vinyl sway you though - think about it, swill it round your head - work out if your desire to mix is truly about the music or the style - and if you can accept the compromise of mixing on Cd's - if your hearts desire it to mix on vinyl - and take it from there.

Finally on this - I don't want to dd a spanner to the works, but remember there is also the MP3 option. For people who have loads of MP3's, and are thinking of getting into Dj'ing, but don't want to go out and get decks and stuff yet, BPM STUDIO have just added a lot more functionalily to their software - moving it on from just clicking a mouse. There's now a lot of hardware add-ons to the system, making your MP3 mixing akin to CD mixing instead. It's a bit pricey - and probably puts itself out the reach of a lot of people until they know they want to just mix with MP3's - but still, it takes the mouse clicks out of mixing!! The site is pretty chunky as it's all flash based, so if yo don't have a fast connection and a fast processor - it may take a while to navigate.

There's a few other programs out there that do the same thing (most without the hardware though) got to my PROGRAMS page to see more info on them. This page is sponsored by
Sapphires

Why? Because they've been nice to me recently, that's all it takes! Click the banner above to go visit their store.