The bottom line – How do I feel about the site? What are the takeaways?.Audio quality – Are you files transcoded before they can be streamed? Are downloadable files the same as uploaded?.Interface/brandability – How much can you make your account your own?.Limitations (if any) – what can and can’t you do with the service?.Cost – is there a free version? What do you get when you pay?.That said, each service will be looked at individually, offering up information on the following criteria: I’m going to use SoundCloud as a sort of baseline to compare from, as that’s been the service in the spotlight the most, for better or worst. This group test takes a mixture of both and take a pragmatic, practical look at how useful each service will generally be to DJs, whether bedroom or professional. There are a lot of things we all judge websites on that are personal preferences, but there are plenty of real, quantifiable points we can look at. But apart from the tried and tested SoundCloud, are the other services worth using? But what do we measure? We DJs need somewhere to stick our music, whether it be mashups mixes or regular podcasts. It’s all well and good taking anecdotal suggestions from the internet, but how about a good old-fashioned group test from your favourite DJ technology site (that’s us, by the way)?

With all the copyright drama surrounding SoundCloud, there’s no shortage of people screaming “try this site!”, “try that site!”. Now that digital DJing is the norm and not the exception, recording and sharing your mixes online has become an essential part of self-promotion, as well as a great way to keep them stored and accessible. From the early days of sites like Audiogalaxy (remember that?) and Napster, to the inevitable legitimising of music streaming and downloads through iTunes, SoundCloud and the like, digital music was far more convenient than physical media. Ever since the MP3 file format gained traction as the medium of choice for music listeners, sharing music has become so easy and intuitive that it’s quite literally turned the industry inside out.

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