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Comment by emptysongglass | Hacker News Reader

Their point was that you're not going to be hard-pressed to find talented vinyl DJs, as you otherwise indicated.

Please don't write snide comments here. They don't belong on HN or anywhere else, really.

Ok, my bad. I just didn't feel like it meaningfully countered anything I've argued. It is true that there is a culture of vinyl DJs and nights out there, and I'm not really commenting on their relative skill level. I have no doubt they have a higher degree of passion than the set of all people who ever touched a controller or represented DJing poorly. I'm just saying that for most intents and purposes the CDJ is a considerably larger and more reliable superset of the capabilities of a turntable and it amplifies anyone's abilities and is relied upon as the industry standard for a reason.

CDJ became standard for multiple reasons having nothing to do with your arguments. The media is much lighter and compact. I could walk in with a booklet of CDs and play a longer set than having to lug in multiple 50lb crates. CDs are not susceptible to cue burns or other wear and tear. CDJs don’t have to worry about stylus wear and tear. Fewer labels were pressing vinyl too.

Original CDJs did not have auto beat matching as they were just dumb turntables albeit with a janky plastic fisher price feeling jogwheel. It wasn’t until much later the auto syncing was available, and then the CDJ just became controllers.

The CDJ or other digital controllers did not become standard because they were the superior tactile controller.

You seem really intent on not listening to what I'm saying. What do you think my arguments are? I have mentioned the wear and tear of records, lugging them around, and the physical state of the mechanical hardware of the player. This is a core part of my argument because these things can affect the audio quality.

I never said a damn thing about tactility. You did. This is the absolute least important factor in the quality of the performance and any DJ worth their weight can perform just fine on jogwheels. If you are a DJ in 2025 asking people to set up turntables for you solely because of superior tactility, despite their numerous drawbacks and potential hazards, you are a primadonna. Which, if you're popular enough, you can get away with, because "all vinyl" is marketable to some. If you're playing at home or gigging in a bar with your own gear or your buddy's and there's no stakes, do whatever you like, obviously.

I will also say that I don't hate vinyl records or people that like to DJ with them, I get why it's cool, I think it has a place. What I do take issue with is any kind of vinyl elitism or snobbism, because it's just so backwards at the professional level. I can't think of an analogue to another area of endeavor where there is this culture or sense of disdain for using the current tools and technology to do your job better. It's nonsense gatekeeping.

People that use hand tools to make things don't have this attitude that it's "better" than using power tools, it's just a different way that they enjoy.

Please carefully read everything I've posted in this thread. I'm speaking from a position of wanting to provide the best experience to the customer and the fan of dance music events.

Vinyl elitism is a bit of a problem but amongst the DJ community it is increasingly seen as old-man-yells-at-the-cloud. For most everything else CDJs are the superior choice; vinyl is a pain in the ass when I could just walk in with a USB drive and slot in. Plus it is a lot easier for producers to demo new tracks and test out WIPs with USB.

That said if you're good at it vinyl is still a lot of fun! And people respect it in a way that digital DJs may never experience. There is something to be said for doing some actual disc jockeying... the 'real DJ' cred is pretty great and a good way to differentiate oneself.

we've so lost the plot on this thread about my original comments. i said that vinyl is the better input control than a jog wheel. i'm not talking about using vinyl as the medium for playing back the sound. i'm talking about using vinyl as the control surface using Serato timecoded vinyl so that you can use the vinyl as the control surface which then controls whatever digital file system you want. you can still use that to beat match, loop, effects, whatever. but it will still be a 12" piece of physical vinyl that can be used to control things.

there is no elitism or snobbism about vinyl regarding music. it is solely about being a much better input mechanism.

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