What does the future hold for CDJ's?

[Ever]

Just looking to spark some open-ended convos about the future of CDJ's.

I'm a bedroom DJ, and it wasn't until a few years ago that I finally entered the CDJ game from my 1200's. I got a pair of CDJ-900's and have been pretty happy with them.

Fast-forward to today and I'm considering upgrading to either the 900NXS or XDJ-1000. I'm a simple house DJ and don't need to many bells and whistles (including a CD drive), so I think the main draw for me is honestly just the larger, higher-res screen.

I'm at a crossroads though. I see my 900's have lost about 50% of their value in less than three years. I understand the economics of this - main due to the rapid-release of new versions. But that's why I'm now wondering what the future holds.

In the end much of it will boil down to personal preference. But with the release of the XDJ it seems things are going the route of glorified controllers. One of the main reasons I chose CDJ's over a controller was simply because they were more of a standard. I've never played with Traktor and would probably enjoy it, but the purist in me enjoys using something a little more standard.

• Where might this go in the next five years?
• Will there always be a standard?
• At what point will the standard just be a controller?
• And what will it look like if so?

[Kwal]

Quick question.... Why do you want to get rid of your 900s? Do you have a real reason or do you just simply want to upgrade?

[Ever]

Quick question.... Why do you want to get rid of your 900s? Do you have a real reason or do you just simply want to upgrade?

I'd say there are two driving forces. One, I really like the larger display, larger wave form etc. Two, I'm feeling that if I don't sell my 900's now, they'll be worthless if one or two more CDJ's are released. Kind of that rolling-upgrade sort of thing (which I honestly didn't realize would be necessary. Shortsighted, I know.)

On a more specific note, I sold my beloved TR-909 to afford the CDJ's, so it's kind of shocking to see how much they've depreciated while the 909 will likely only go up in value. It's not apples-to-apples. But that's probably a little more of a driving force for me to step back and wonder where I go from here.

But yeah, the larger display is the biggest reason. And because of that I'm wondering if I should honestly just switch to Traktor so I can use my Macbook. Or maybe graduate to the XDJ since it seems to be going the route of expanded Rekordbox capabilities.

I love using "the standard," but I'm curious if the standard will become more and more abstract in the next few years. Probably nothing major in under five years, but perhaps close enough to discuss!

[Schalenberg]

I say stick to what works best for you (CDJs, controller, turntables, etc.). And don't buy gear with the intention of selling it. If you like your 900s and you don't need any "bells and whistles," keep the suckers. I went from 900s to 900s Nexus to 850s to XDJ 1000s and now I'm using turntables. I had the money to throw caution to the wind. But you know what? The 850s were all I really needed in the end. I'd be find with CDJ 400s, to be honest. Just my 2 cents.

[cyberninjitsu]

I say stick to what works best for you (CDJs, controller, turntables, etc.). And don't buy gear with the intention of selling it....

I'm going to say the exact opposite here. Unless you're a baller without a budget (which I don't think you are), or your livelihood is DJing (which I don't think either), you should consider the resale value of the gear you are buying. Brand new DJ gear isn't cheap and it depreciates at crazy rates. With new technology coming out whats to say that something that better suits your workflow won't come along and make the gear you bought less appealing.

I really recommend buying used. Search for the best deal you can find, especially when you're experimenting and trying to find what works best for you. About 3-4 Years ago I bought a clean pair of 1200s (w/ dustcovers & Stanton needles) for $600 as my first foray into DJ gear, picking up a used Audio 8 for $150. Didn't like the turntable workflow and flipped the tables for $725 and Sold the audio 8 for what I paid for it. I later bought a S4 with chroma caps for $400 (mind you they were just released) and really fell in love with the unit. The price on S4 Mk1s have tanked, but I could still get out of it with 150 dollar loss over 2 and a half years, but I love it too much to do that. I wanted to try the CDJ workflow and bought a XDJ-r1 for $500, ended up keeping it for a few months before realizing how unconductive it was to my style of open format DJing, and selling it for $650.

Long story short, if this is a hobby, you really need to keep in mind the money you're spending on things and be able to justify the depreciation of the gear. Yeah the CDJs work just as perfectly as they used to, but new things will always come up driving the price of your gear down. Yeah you might have to wait a few months before finding the right deal but it will be out there. Its much easier to spend hundreds on gear knowing that down the line if you decide to sell that you can recover X money, then spending hundreds on gear that you'll never be able to recover money on.

[Scalage]

Just curious, why do you want to go with the standard? I mean, if you play at different venues sure. But as a bedroom dj? Who cares what the standard is if you only use the gear at home? And if you're not using bells and whistles everything should just be where you left it if you switch brands.

[Stazbumpa]

If you're going to upgrade (sort of) then why not flog your CDJs and mixer and just get the Pioneer XDJ-RX? It's the "standard" layout so if you can use that and end up with a gig in a club with Pio gear then you're good to go. Ok, so you're limited to two channels but by the sound of it that's about all you're using anyway, no?

[ZxZDeViLZxZ]

My theory on djing has always been it's not what you use its how you use it.... Keep in mind I showed up to a gig with cdjs when turntables were the only answer... I took a large amount of flack over it and honestly I felt wasn't really called for... However it didn't matter people still wanted to diss it and in the end I quit giging out because of it I just didn't have the patience for the stupidity. These days I play on anything I have a gig this Friday night and honestly I might just take my vestax typhoon instead of my ns6 because it's really all I need. Other guy in djing with will have his denon cdjs and I'm half tempted to just use them with usb sticks and likely will prep tracks to do that but. In the end in there to play and the people in the crowd do not care what I use so why should I? But I guess I did just purchase an xdj-rx if that means anything... My reasoning for making that purchase was wanting to get back into the CDJ flow of mixing away from serato and a laptop... I really do not like djing with a laptop...

A prime example of why is last night I forgot to plug my laptop back in battery died it hibernated which is a big no no with a SSD And this morning my bios isn't detecting my drive even though drive is fine so now I get to spend tonight trying to get my drive booting again and being detected by bios.... Kinda shitty... I hate working on computers I did it for a living for years and leaving that industry has
Made my life much happier so if I can avoid ever working on a computer I do....


TL;DR stick with the 900s unless your prepared to sale at a loss purchase the xdj1000s and likely sale for a loss in 3 years when something else catches your eye