Getting a massive music library from scratch - Best possible way?

[photojojo]

all im saying is if you want to create a true "Library" - do it right and keep it meticulously organized....i'm not advocating either way, just answering the OPs question....

Illegally downloading music isn't doing it right. I removed those references from your post.

[stasis]

whoops - mea culpa - sorry about that one

[shr3dder]

I am constantly trying to cut down my library after I ripped every track on every record I had..... add to that CD single rips and Beatport and other digital downloads my library was way to big.

It's taken me months to cut a lot of the shit out. Why on earth would you want anything over 500-1000 tracks. and I play a Top 40/Commercial night along with a regular tech house/minimal gig and I'm still rarely caught out by requests. Know your crowds. Know your tunes.

File organisation makes me miss vinyl. I loved being so restricted by price and having to carry a f*cking record box, made life a lot easier in one way (the biggest advantage of vinyl over digital imo)

[MiL0]

Personally I like having a "MASSIVE" library stored on my file server at home. I treat it just like the internet; I browse my library picking out the tunes I like and save them in playlists/folders on my dj'ing laptop. I can totally see the appeal of this method... especially if you DJ across a number of different styles. If the tune is bad quality, I hop onto Beatport and buy / re-buy it.

Now, where you get your "MASSIVE" library is another thing entirely. If you're gonna be doing this professionally, then you you should join some record pools and get on itunes, beatport, etc. If you're a home dj with no friends who's doing it as a hobby then I don't see the ethical problem with downloading torrents etc. It's no loss to the scene as you weren't ever going to be a customer anyway. I know that when I used to download music illegally it led me on to discover music/genres that I never would have listened to. And now I go to nights when those producers/dj's play and often buy their music legally.

But yeah, as others have said, it's probably best to start off legal and buy just the music you like. The Beatport artists charts are a good way to discover new music... so are blogs.

edit: just realised I'm opening myself up to abuse... for the record, I was doing reasonably well in the dnb scene a few years back so I got sent most of the music that I played from the actual dj's/producers via AIM/Soundcloud/FTP.

[stasis]

QFT - there is a distinction here for sure.....

Personally I like having a "MASSIVE" library stored on my file server at home. I treat it just like the internet; I browse my library picking out the tunes I like and save them in playlists/folders on my dj'ing laptop. I can totally see the appeal of this method... especially if you DJ across a number of different styles. If the tune is bad quality, I hop onto Beatport and buy / re-buy it.

Now, where you get your "MASSIVE" library is another thing entirely. If you're gonna be doing this professionally, then you you should join some record pools and get on itunes, beatport, etc. If you're a home dj with no friends who's doing it as a hobby then I don't see the ethical problem with downloading torrents etc. It's no loss to the scene as you weren't ever going to be a customer anyway. I know that when I used to download music illegally it led me on to discover music/genres that I never would have listened to. And now I go to nights when those producers/dj's play and often buy their music legally.

But yeah, as others have said, it's probably best to start off legal and buy just the music you like. The Beatport artists charts are a good way to discover new music... so are blogs.

edit: just realised I'm opening myself up to abuse... for the record, I was doing reasonably well in the dnb scene a few years back so I got sent most of the music that I played from the actual dj's/producers via AIM/Soundcloud/FTP.