Gear
Beatport Sync – killing Itunes and bringing djing to the masses
I just read this article on create digital music and thought I would repost it. The big thing to me is that it beats the pants off of Itunes. I use Itunes for its organizational aspect but I also have a work computer, home computer and laptop and its impossible to keep them synced. Also, Itunes is a huge memory hog on PCs and runs terribly slow even on a diesel machine. Here’s to hoping Beatport takes over the world.
Below is the main gist of the article from create digital music:
Beaport Sync is a free, DJ-friendly music player / librarian / mixing app for Windows and Mac. On its surface, it looks like a hook for online music store Beatport and a beginner-friendly DJ mixer (two tracks, auto tempo detection and time stretching, pitch control) — and it is that.
But aside from the ability to mix and cross-fade, Beatport Sync has some features Apple’s iTunes lacks, which makes it potentially worth a download for just about anyone. First, it has real file format support: MP3 / MP4 / AAC / WMA / WAV / AIFF / FLAC / OGG (plus audio CDs, of course). WMA, FLAC, and OGG are all missing in iTunes. Second, it has advanced meta-data editing and file browsing, making it useful for organizing your music collection. What I really like: not only can you backup your library to external media, but you can browse external media, too. It’s a reminder that iTunes remains pretty primitive for listening and organization — it’s added some decent features, but not so much for the desktop listening experience.
Features include:
- Two-deck mixer with manual/automatic crossfader
- Pitch control
- Time-stretching and tempo detection, for smooth crossfades even if you don’t know what you’re doing (or you’re, say, folding laundry or cleaning your studio and want the software to DJ for you — it happens)
- Rip and burn CDs
- Access external devices for browsing and backup
- iTunes library integration (no playback support for DRMed tracks, though meta-data will appear)
