Does anyone have any comments on the Beatport Link integration?
My view:
Very limited ability to browse the content. Only three ‘playlists’ available, each of which lead to a list of genres. Having to choose a genre is restrictive. Often, playlists on the site contain multiple genres.
Cannot create a playlist on the device. Only possible by using the web site, which defeats the object (same with Tidal).
Search is restricted to tracks, artists and labels. Tidal integration has ability to search playlists and albums.
I gave it a try last night and I was quite impressed. I don’t think I would use the curated playlists that much as you have to download the track to see what it sounds like but there is loads of contents there and nice to play stuff you wouldn’t normally. I play different genres so nice to see all of them there.
I think the fact you can make playlists on the beatport website is a really good thing. You can do what you would normally do on beatport but then you don’t have to buy the track, you just put it in a playlist. The cost saving would be amazing! My last shop on beatport cost £75 even with the discount, so that’s about 3 months subscription!
Tidal has been useful when searching for tunes that people request but I would never sit on tidal and try and find new dance music so I think that the beatport link is much better for dance music. My only gripe compared to tidal is the sound quality as I have a masters account on tidal and it sounds amazing.
I don’t mind the curated playlists and top 100s, but you should be able to do a genre scan and it simply list by newest tracks. Makes it very difficult to “discover” a track.
I completely agree. We all have to realise that this is a work in progress and not a finished article. There are some additonal features that will make it a better experience - add to prepare crate, create and add to playlists on the unit, order playlists by key or BPM. Also it would be good to have the streaming services into the play history (I did a 2 hours mix on Sat night and only the tracks on my SSD appear).
I personally prefer to prepare my playlists offline on my laptop but some may prefer to do it live. I think these things would mame reasonable feature requests.
I’ve found tidal great in that I can find anything that’s on beatport and the sound quality is amazing. That’s really where it ends. For all the reasons highlighted already, I find it a bit frustrating. Im having to organise rough playlists on my phone and keep it beside me in the mix, but its very messy.
As for beatport link, I was all geared up to try that until I learned that the pro subscription (at 29 dollars!) only streams at 256. With that, as with tidal, there’s no way of organising playlists within folders or crates. And to top it off, you cant just click to add a track to a playlist when browsing. The track has to then be searched for from inside your library. Expensive for such a clunky service. Tidal you can excuse, but as dance music specialists, Beatport will really have to up their game or considerably drop the price before I subscribe.
Don’t get me wrong, its great to have access to all this music and the streaming itself never fails. I get its no doubt very complex trying to forge and then improve streaming service partnerships. That said, Ive been on Tidal 6 months now and nothings changed/improved which maybe doesn’t bode well for the future. Maybe Tidal dj as separate service might be the way to go
The Beatport prices for better quality music are a joke…Denon should have secured a one year “Denon exclusive” deal for all the prime users. I know that it is a difficult task to convince another company to sell their product for less money but in this case, with the right sales person and tactics, I feel Denon could sell the idea of adding growth to their (Beatport) product.
Historically DJs have always bought their music, and it was expensive to buy big bundles of vinyl or CDs every week. Now we pay far less per track, to buy - and much much less to rent (stream).
Beatport and Beatsource are aimed at DJs - and DJs make money from playing music. If a DJ is not making enough each month to cover renting from Beatport/source then the problem is not the price of those services…
Disclaimer: I am aware that COVID-19 has impacted many DJs income.
Your point is a valid one indeed but putting that aside for a minute, I am speaking from a streaming service price point that we have been conditioned to so far by other companies. Sure they were not for exclusive DJ use (apple, Spotify, etc.) but Tidal is aimed at DJs too and their price structure seems fair.
Hello,
Following the integration of BEATPORT services on the Denon Prime 4, when are you planning to integrate access to Offline Locker Storage (BEATPORT service) on the Prime 4?
Thank you
Don`t want to open another thread about Beatport. But how do you guys feel about the AAC sound quality of the tracks? From the specs they should sound like 320kbits CBR, but in my ears they does not? Hard to explain whats difference in detail…
Have you done a side by side comparison of Beatport AAC and your own file (same track)? Best to do it blind too, so you’re not influenced by knowing which is the Beatport file.
They sound OK to me, but then I’ve got old ears and not listening via flashy speakers.
Ability to view the curated playlists added by artists instead of just the top 100 (you can see them when you’re browsing their store).
Ability to sort playlists by artist, key, or bpm. It’s really annoying that there is no sorting at all.
Ability to add songs we play from a curated (top100 etc) playlist to one of our own custom playlists in beatport link.
I love the quantity of music that I can play on a whim from beatport link but it is more difficult than it needs to be to find something new (maybe track preview will help with this) and the beatport link website also makes it hard to manage playlists as well.
Totally agree to all above, also we need offline storage for beatport link. Having to load a track to the DJ Prime 2 and wait for it to load is cumbersome, especially if you are undecided what to play next. Offline storage is really needed ASAP.
Please get this worked on Denon, as its the difference between me holding on and selling my unit. I believe with A DDJ 1000 and rekordbox as for now it will be more user friendly, all be it you need a laptop.
All I really want extra from beatport/ denon is the ability to organise my playlists in key and also if your playing the same list they don’t tell each other that it’s been played, there’s now way I can find of putting the songs in a playable order, even going to playing vinyl you would have your set in some sort of order, it needs sorting ASAP
I think it needs being able to favorite, sort to a playlist on the spot( a bit like Spotify) rating on the spot. I know you can do that on the computer but today I was exploring stuff and had to have my laptop next to me to do that when in reality should be easy to do from the prime itself.
Offline Locker ability? When? Are you (DenonDJ) really serious about adding it, or was it just baiting us to buy the hardware?? WiFi is not really suitable in all venues and or situations for reliable live performances…2023 and nothing on when we will be getting it if ever. What a joke!
How are we now nearly 4 years in and this is still not available? The Serato integration is lovely, allowing you to sort the playlist by any criteria, and drag and drop to your offline locker. Come on Denon, pull your finger out!!!
Actions speak louder than any marketing material Denon and their partners put out. It’s clear at this point that Denon has zero intentions of implementing off-line locker feature, otherwise they would have either done so or addressed it in a press release. They basically did a bait a switch making us all believe that it was going to happen, and now it’s been made crystal clear they have no intentions of making it happen. An absolute joke and a big mistake in terms of getting the faith and confidence that Denon will do what they say by their customers.
Will try to compare for sure.