5 Reasons To Choose CDJs Over Vinyl Turntables

Vinyl turntables are a great buy for DJs that want to experience the authentic feel of mixing however CDJs are becoming one of the most sought after set of decks for the modern beginner DJ.

CDJs offer many additional benefits over using vinyl turntables which quickly justifies the extra costs.

CDs Are Cheap

Let’s face it, vinyl is becoming a bit too expensive of an investment for the Beginner DJ. Even in the earlier days of DJing, vinyl still came at a high price – something DJs gladly paid to rock the crowd.

Luckily we are privileged with the internet.

The internet has allow us to purchase MP3s and burn them to CDs for a fraction of the cost of vinyl. Where an E.P. may have cost you $20, it now costs you $2. Beginner DJs can benefit greatly from the sheer amount of music available for such a great price.

Easier To Transport

Vinyl isn’t heavy individually but when you’re lugging around 100 or more in your DJ bag, it starts to get to you. The occasional gig may not be anything to worry about but if you spend years traveling the world, carrying your heavy DJ bag full of vinyl it’s going to start causing back problems.

In a small CD binder, you could hold 10x the amount of music compared to vinyl. Stuff them in your backpack along with your headphones and other goodies and you’ll be set.

Play The Newest Tracks

Although many tracks are exclusive on white label, it’s becoming increasingly easier to find tracks available on the net days before they ever make it to the shop. Websites like Beatport make it easy to find hundreds of thousands of different tracks, many of them released minutes prior to searching.

Certain tracks also have a limited pressing, acquiring the songs through MP3s is much easier than tracking down a limited quantity circulating vinyl shops.

Prevent Mishaps

At some point in your DJ career you’re going to get requests to play songs. Usually you can ignore these people or be nice and try to mix the request into your set. Unfortunately, many of these people that request songs are often very, very drunk.

Drunk people don’t necessarily walk all that well, especially in a club environment.

Tonearms are very sensitive to vibration so you could imagine what would happen if someone elbowed it. Within a split second your perfect mix could be completely ruined from someone bumping into your tables. With CDJs, you won’t have to worry about people bumping them – they’ll continue to play through.

Additional Effects

Good DJs can eventually learn some really awesome tricks on their vinyl turntables but CDJs allow you to take these effects to a whole new level.

CDJs come with built in effects to spice up your mix but they also allow you to hook up additional gear to route your inputs to add even more control over your mixes. DJs can throw off the crowd and make them go wild when they remix a classic track, making it sound like nothing people have heard before.

Are CDJs The Future?

We are in a time of DJing where many still prefer to use vinyl turntables while others open new technologies with open arms (trance style).

The internet allows us to download music at an incredible rate for a fraction of the cost, this reason alone is one of the main draws of using CDJs over vinyl turntables.

You don’t have to snarl at the thought that you’re using CD decks because as long as the crowd is enjoying the mix, you’re doing your job right – regardless of what decks you are using.

The future is MP3s, you still have the option of finding tracks on vinyl but DJing is definitely moving in a digital direction, are you prepared?

"Subscribe to the blog"

Receive an update straight to your inbox every time I publish a new article. Your email address will never be shared.