There was a time when DJs used vinyl records. Not because they were super niche and hip, but because flash drives hadn’t been invented yet. Actually, neither had CDs. So when CDs came along, with their superior storage ability and audio clarity, most DJs had to find a way to navigate the transition. Just like you have to navigate the transition from being a bedroom noob DJ to a serious one with one of the DJ courses by DJ Courses Online. Read on.

The vinyl problem

At the time of its release, the Pioneer CDJ-1000 was an ingenious solution to the problem most DJs were facing: how to acquire music that was not being released on vinyl as it made its way out of the door and CDs made their way in. DJs were stuck in vinyl, and the world was moving on. CD players could do the job of playback, but there was almost none of the control that DJs needed to keep the floor moving. No scratch control, no easy way to transport, no crossfading curves.

Enter the jog wheel

The first model of CDJs was released by Pioneer in 2001. It rivaled the Technics 1200 in innovation by introducing the revolutionary, never-seen-before jog wheel. The functionality of vinyl had arrived in the world of CD DJing. Using the (now omnipresent) 7-inch, top-mounted disc encoder, DJs could slow and speed the track. And even better, they could scratch. It was the perfect bridge for vinyl DJs to adapt to the clearly superior digital world, and adoption was quick and (almost) universal. 

Other wins for DJs

There were even more reasons to switch. CDJs offered cue points, allowing DJs to jump to a specific part of a track. This ushered in the age-old hip hop technique of looping breaks and hooks to hype the crowds. Due to the relative weight of CDs and the fact that MP3 encoding would soon become the norm, travel was made a whole lot easier while also offering more track options to DJs.

It’s hard to imagine any club without a pair of CDJs somewhere in the booth. They’re still the global standard for professional event playback, and it all started with the market-focused release of the CDJ-1000s. The design still serves as a source of inspiration for many gear designs today. As we move into an ever more streaming-focused world, let’s pause for a minute in retrospect and all hail the aptly-named Pioneer’s most significant contribution to DJing. Speaking of contributing, you should get better at DJing by checking out what DJ Courses Online offers in the way of online DJ courses.