Rebuilding My Music Library

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dbstudios said:
What I did with my music LIBRARY, is take the current CD's that I own, and use that as a starting point for my collection, and will PURCHASE my music as needed. As far as my karaoke collection, it was collection that I purchased over a few years, as zip files, but serato will not read them, so I had to unzip them on to a separate drive. Yes it's large, but it's all legal. With karaoke, yes it's only 4 hours, but the crowd is a lot more diverse, which means I will probably use 90% of my library over the period of a few months.
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I started with my OWN CD's as well... Problem being; most were NOT dance music.:laugh: Most DJ's play dance music. Pretty much MOST the stuff I've downloaded and put in my library SINCE becoming a DJ has been dance music. I obtained lists of "most requested" and "most popular" songs played by DJ's and purchased EVERY song on those lists. However, until now, I still retained ALL the other personal stuff in the library too. It's fixable, but it's not as easy as some people think. Someone (who shall remain nameless and avatarless:laugh:) suggested listing files by last "Date Accessed". But that would ONLY work if ALL your MP3 files are in the same folder. Mine are in folders by Artist Name>>>Album>>>Track, so it would require going at least two levels lower (thousands of times) in order to see when a song was last accessed. Even then, I don't know what difference the Date Accessed would make... JUST because a song has not been accessed recently, doesn't mean it's NOT a song you might play under the right circumstance. The decision about what is something you MIGHT play, or something that might be requested is much more complicated than checking the Date Accessed.:)
 
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Fortunately for me, my taste is music is extremely eclectic, I do have some of the popular 90's dance music, some newer dance music, country, classical (used mostly for dinner music), christmas, and the list goes on. I do know I am lacking in the newest stuff.
 
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dbstudios said:
Fortunately for me, my taste is music is extremely eclectic, I do have some of the popular 90's dance music, some newer dance music, country, classical (used mostly for dinner music), christmas, and the list goes on...f.
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Yep... Same here. I have a variety, because ALL gigs are NOT the same. I have events where I'm there to provide background music for a fund raiser... Nobody's gonna dance, and the music is not played loudly. Then I have events where it's a party, so the music is LOUD and fast. I play C&W sometimes (this IS Oklahoma, after all :laugh:), but I also do Christian events (again, BIBLE BELT :)). I even have hip-hop in my library, but I ALMOST never play it.:laugh:
 
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DJ Bobcat said:
I play C&W sometimes (this IS Oklahoma, after all :laugh:), but I also do Christian events (again, BIBLE BELT :)). I even have hip-hop in my library, but I ALMOST never play it.
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Fortunately? for me, here in michigan, I get C&W requests on occasion, and have been asked if I would do church events. I also get requests for rap, and hip-hop. So for me to have a library that only has what is played most is foolish, at best.
:djparty:
 
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Look, the bottom line is that there are many many DJs, and many big acts that stick everything in one folder. It's just not a big problem in reality. I can search, access all of the files immediately outside and inside dj software so there is no performance hit.

Perhaps, b/c I don't have 200,000 files, but I know a couple of big-time DJs who have double what I have and have zero issues.

Yes, everything has its limits, but almost no DJ hits that. If it really scares you, make two folders so it's easier on your system, although I don't find it necessary.

Serato and most DJ programs can handle 250,000 files. That is F*** load of music for any type of event. Nobody hits that in their DJ music library (NOT personal), which can be organized elsewhere.

Regarding organizing, once in the DJ software, it's kind of personal, but I posted my screenshot which has worked really well for me. I also edit all ID3 tags, scan, and delete files via Serato.

DBstudios, Bobcat, and RickRyan, how many files do you have, not including karaoke?
 
Jas, you can stick things in one folder. There will come a point in time where that WILL affect your machine in some capacity. I've given you information to show you that. You don't have to believe me, there are tons and tons of information of this very issue across the web. I've shown you where 50,000 songs in one folder will break OSX and prevent it from displaying. It is a fallacy to believe sticking everything in one folder is good or ok. Personally, I like a little more organization and speed. My 'active' library consists of 8,420 folders. If people are jumping off a perfectly safe bridge, are you going to jump too just because they did?

Big acts aren't carrying alot of stuff with them usually. They have a routine that they use - ALOT and alot of the time, it's prerecorded. What you see .. is a show. As for large libraries, you keep claiming no one has this issue - yet you can EASILY find information about Serato and large libraries all the way to Serato Itch and Scratch. This is a known issue among many people.

Another example I provided was this site itself. Try to imagine listing every single thread on the home page. This site would be completely unusable. There's no way it would be able to keep up with the amount of information it would need to process. The reason threads are broken into 20 page posts - to prevent a performance hit. Ever been to a site and it takes forever to load all the images? I wonder what would be causing that. Hmmmm.

All I asked you to do was consider the ramifications of your choices (from an experienced and knowledgeable IT guy) and make an informed decision. If you still want to jump off the bridge, that's on you.
 
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DJ Bobcat said:
If I had to emulate YOUR behavior, I’d simply get out of the DJ business.[emoji1]
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I speculate you've never actually been in it, save but occasionally or just part time.

If you read my first post you'll note that I told you I was speaking from a business perspective, that is from a place where the DJ requirements are not supplanted by the dictates of a personal hobby such as music collecting.

You cannot compete effectively with other DJ businesses if you make your first order of business collecting products rather than delivering a service.
 
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ittigger said:
Jas, you can stick things in one folder. There will come a point in time where that WILL affect your machine in some capacity. I've given you information to show you that. You don't have to believe me, there are tons and tons of information of this very issue across the web. I've shown you where 50,000 songs in one folder will break OSX and prevent it from displaying. It is a fallacy to believe sticking everything in one folder is good or ok. Personally, I like a little more organization and speed. My 'active' library consists of 8,420 folders. If people are jumping off a perfectly safe bridge, are you going to jump too just because they did?

Big acts aren't carrying alot of stuff with them usually. They have a routine that they use - ALOT and alot of the time, it's prerecorded. What you see .. is a show. As for large libraries, you keep claiming no one has this issue - yet you can EASILY find information about Serato and large libraries all the way to Serato Itch and Scratch. This is a known issue among many people.

Another example I provided was this site itself. Try to imagine listing every single thread on the home page. This site would be completely unusable. There's no way it would be able to keep up with the amount of information it would need to process. The reason threads are broken into 20 page posts - to prevent a performance hit. Ever been to a site and it takes forever to load all the images? I wonder what would be causing that. Hmmmm.

All I asked you to do was consider the ramifications of your choices (from an experienced and knowledgeable IT guy) and make an informed decision. If you still want to jump off the bridge, that's on you.
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The thing is, you are arguing about a limitation that you really have to go out of your way bump up against.
With 50,000 songs you can gig every week for 12 years; never repeat a song - and still not make it all the way through that collection.
By admission, Serato is built for DJs not the Smithsonian.
 
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Proformance said:
I speculate you've never actually been in it, save but occasionally or just part time.

If you read my first post you'll note that I told you I was speaking from a business perspective, that is from a place where the DJ requirements are not supplanted by the dictates of a personal hobby such as music collecting.

You cannot compete effectively with other DJ businesses if you first order of business is collecting products rather than delivering a service.
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LOL... You still don’t get it... ALL DJ businesses are NOT alike. YES... I’m a retired guy who DJ’s. However, I have a legitimate business registered with the state of Oklahoma. I have an EIN, and I pay taxes on my business.

I deliver “service” with the “products” I “collect”. I have a loyal clientele and word-of-mouth brings me enough business I have no need to advertise. I make a little extra money. Couldn’t be happier.[emoji4]

As far as competing with other DJ businesses, I very rarely go head-to-head with other’s because I’m not doing typical events (weddings, sweet 16’s, proms, etc.). I fill a certain niche other DJ’s rarely consider. If I do compete, I can kill a full-time DJ on price if I choose, because I don’t NEED the money. Likewise, I can pick and choose the events I want to do. Is my business different than your’s??? Yep. Does your “business” advice have much application to MY business???... Nope.[emoji1]
 
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Proformance said:
The thing is, you are arguing about a limitation that you really have to go out of your way bump up against.
With 50,000 songs you can gig every week for 12 years; never repeat a song - and still not make it all the way through that collection.
By admission, Serato is built for DJs not the Smithsonian.
Click to expand...

I'm speaking about a limitation that is impending. He has 30,000. 50,000 is not that far out of his way and MANY here have more than 50,000 songs, which is easily obtained. With 50,000, he won't be able to play because he won't see a listing of any of his music from the OS. I'd like to see you help him at that point. Based on your years of history here, your assistance at that point would be for him to go look up his own answers and that he should have been prepared for something like this, he's been mismanaging his data since the dawn of time and he might be a professional if he was doing it better.

Again, what I'm discussing is the impending limit and issues along the way and steps any person can easily take now to mitigate those issues and limits. Any persons failure to adhere to the alert and danger signs is their own fault, especially when the signs are plentiful. I have no personal stake if any person mitigates them or not, so it really does not impact me.

If you're argument is that more than 50,000 is too many, then you're barking up the wrong tree. This is your opinion and no more than that. Many people have many more pieces of media (songs, videos, etc) than this. Nothing you say can or will change their minds and your opinion is no more valuable, better or worse than theirs.

If you want to talk about the Smithsonian, we can do that too - they have trillions of songs. I'm not sure what you're aim is (or what Serato has to do with it) - but we can discuss it. I've been there many times. Nice facilities.
 
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DJ Bobcat said:
LOL... You still don’t get it... ALL DJ businesses are NOT alike. YES... I’m a retired guy who DJ’s. However, I have a legitimate business registered with the state of Oklahoma. I have an EIN, and I pay taxes on my business.

I deliver “service” with the “products” I “collect”. I have a loyal clientele and word-of-mouth brings me enough business I have no need to advertise. I make a little extra money. Couldn’t be happier.[emoji4]

As far as competing with other DJ businesses, I very rarely go head-to-head with other’s because I’m not doing typical events (weddings, sweet 16’s, proms, etc.). I fill a certain niche other DJ’s rarely consider. If I do compete, I can kill a full-time DJ on price if I choose, because I don’t NEED the money. Likewise, I can pick and choose the events I want to do. Is my business different than your’s??? Yep. Does your “business” advice have much application to MY business???... Nope.[emoji1]
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None of that answers the question: Why?
How are you benefiting professionally or personally from being tied to this massive time eating project?

Did you really post looking for solutions or just to be recognized for collecting 120,000 tracks? You sound disappointed.
 
Proformance said:
None of that answers the question: Why?
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... Once again I’ll reply; the answer to that question was clear in my initial post, second paragraph. This will be the last time I’ll repeat it, so I would hope you would refrain from posting the same question as well. If it’s something you can’t comprehend, that’s fine.[emoji4]

Proformance said:
..How are you benefiting professionally or personally from being tied to this massive time eating project?
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If you really want to know the answer to that question, and I suspect you don’t, you would have found the answers in my original post, and in post #90.

Proformance said:
Did you really post looking for solutions or just to be recognized for collecting 120,000 tracks? You sound disappointed.
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Surely you jest![emoji1] Disappointed???... Only in you, and you should be disappointed in yourself. So much of what you’ve posted in this thread is inaccurate, uninformed, and speculative. You’ll never learn that the problem with trying to be a know-it-all is that NOBODY truly can be.[emoji1]
 
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ittigger said:
I'm speaking about a limitation that is impending. He has 30,000. 50,000 is not that far out of his way and MANY here have more than 50,000 songs, which is easily obtained. With 50,000, he won't be able to play because he won't see a listing of any of his music from the OS. I'd like to see you help him at that point. ...he's been mismanaging his data since the dawn of time and he might be a professional if he was doing it better.
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While it's romantic to know you're so concerned about how he does things.... he's not experiencing any of the distress you would assign to him. :)

If you're argument is that more than 50,000 is too many, then you're barking up the wrong tree.
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It's not my argument.
Serato is a DJ software, and you are arguing over it's capacity as an archive manager. Clearly, as an "IT guru" you can debug this misapplication?
 
dbstudios said:
Not including karaoke, I have just over 8000 songs.
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then you are fine. I have 30,000 and a lot of DJs I know have double. Even at 50,000 files, they are not seeing an issue in either the OS or Serato. But if you don't want to take a chance, as I said before, just split it up into two folders. DJ1, DJ2, both of which you can put 25,000 files in it, and Serato has no problem reading them.
 
I have contacted Serato to get the actual number of files you can have in a library before you get in trouble.

What happens now, does it crash when you load 150,000?
 
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