Music Organizing Software for Dj - Beatport Pro alternatives

[tintirintin]

To Dj, one of the most important steps is to know your own music, isn't it?
But is hard to find tools that work well for either your workflow and also for listening and enjoying your music.

I feel like music organisation is such an important part of the process, but I can't find much info, recommendations, post about it..


1) THE CONTEXT

I have approximately a library of 7000 songs, which I am constantly sorting out and organising, it is an endless job!
In my opinion it is a mistake probably to have so many songs, specially considering that I am a beginner, so I advice against the quantity and advocate the quality of your music, but I love my collection and I just can't get rid of almost any song in there.

I use iTunes to store, organise and listen to music, the best feature for me is that it syncs with the iPhone, so I can listen and create playlists anytime (specially when I cycle , I know I shouldn't, please don't judge me for this).

I use Traktor, so I love the integration of Traktor and iTunes thought the itunes.xml file


2) THE PROBLEM (That most of you for sure have faced sometime)

iTunes is very limited for Djing. You can't add extra tags, set mood, add sub-categories (sub genres)..
I started using the comments field to add my own #TAGS, because it's a universal field, but I need definitely something more powerful.

I had a look at Beatport Pro.. But I am not convinced. First it seems to not to be very updated, second it is very focused to buy music to them, and finally it would be difficult to update the music to the iPhone (or Android) so I can listen on the go.


3) QUESTIONS

- What has been your experience with your music organising workflow? What have you learned that you feel like sharing?

- Are there any other interesting posts about this topic? (There must be but I couldn't find anything complete)

- What would you suggest as an alternative for Beatport Pro?

[Patch]

That’s a very well thought out post.

The time you spent thinking and writing it would’ve been better spent searching this very forum, and the articles in the DJTT blog.

There is literally tons of info here about what you’re asking. Some of us here take it VERY seriously, and have written lots about it. Have a good dig around here - because it’s pretty quiet around here right now, and you might be waiting a while for any answers....

For me, I do 100% of my playlist (actually, I only use Smart Playlists) management in iTunes. I do my tag management in MP3Tag. I have abbreviations and signifiers across multiple tags, and I also live update tags in-line in Traktor as I play. I also use BeaTunes. BeaTunes is absolutely worth buying.

Do not underestimate iTunes. It is absolutely awesome as a tag management system. I do not store ANY of my files in any of the iTunes folders. iTunes is ONLY used to manipulate the info stored in the tags of the files.

[marcuschoones]

@tintirintin - We're working on a music library app which we're going to launch in beta shortly. It will sync your playlists, tracks and cuepoints with mac/win/linux and iOS and Android devices. Feel free to check it out at: https://www.choones.app

@Patch - We're actively looking for beta testers who use tag management in iTunes or elsewhere and would like to help build the ultimate music library management tool. We're looking at tags, smart playlists and other features already. Feel free to sign up to the beta; I'd value your opinion. https://www.choones.app/download

Cheers,
Marcus @

[tintirintin]

Thank you very much!! Very useful advice, I will definitely check MP3Tag and BeaTunes.

I have been researching this topic for weeks, believe me!