Jul092011
The 8 Things I Like About DJDownload.com (And The 3 Things I Don’t)
As a DJ, I buy a fair amount of mp3’s online. Most of my spare time is taken up with listening to promos or browsing through dance music online. There are several places that I go online that cater for my specialist Funky House niche and one of those places I go to is djdownload.com which I reviewed over a year ago along with 8 other sites.
Below is a list of reasons why I love DJD so much. Quite a few of the reasons are common to other online music stores but for me personally, DJD has all these things in one place.
You Don’t Lose You Place When You Log In
This is one of those small subtle changes that make a world of difference when visiting a site. When I used to visit DJD to browse music, I’d find a track on their site that I liked and wanted to buy but wasn’t logged in. I would go to log in but as soon as I clicked the “log in” button I was sent back to the home page and subsequently lost the page I was previously on. Now what happens is that you stay on the same page when you log in. Sounds like an obvious minor detail but not all online stores do this and if you allow your browser to remember your details you can log in in just 2 clicks.
Good Choice Of Options When Downloading Tracks
Once your purchase is complete you can choose to download all the tracks in one go or grab them one by one. If you even feel like downloading them at a later date you can do this too. For me, the one click download everything option is great as I can get all my purchases with the minimum of fuss and effort. The tracks are bundled and delivered in a ZIP file which means you get them on your computer that little bit faster too.
3 Prices For 3 Levels Of Audio Quality
DJD’s pricing is nice and simple and the options they give you for the music you want to download is straightforward too. With most tracks on their site you can grab a 192kb mp3 for around 99p suitable for playback on mp3 players, or you can grab a club-quality 320kb mp3 for around £1.30, or if you want that lossless sound then grab a WAV for a few pennies more. You don’t need any more options than that and the tiered pricing is sensible too.
Better Prices Than The Rest
For me, I have found that the prices on DJD are generally the cheapest around. I know that based on the music I buy, a typical basket of tracks bought on Beatport for example will be more expensive than the exact same basket on DJD. It’s possible to buy the entire top 10 tracks on the home page of DJD for a tenner which means you are spending just £1 a track. Bargain!
They Give You Free Music
For every 10 tracks I purchase, I receive a download “token” to use to get any track I like for free. I don’t know of any other store that does this and it’s a nice little touch to reward loyal customers. I like to keep hold of my token (I don’t think it expires) and use it on some of the promos/new releases that are priced a little higher than other tracks so I can get the full benefit from the free download token.
Great Memory
When browsing music, often I will not make a purchase that same day; perhaps I might like to come back a few days later, add more things to the basket and then get all my music in one go. DJD allows me to do this when I’m logged in by remembering what was in my shopping cart the last time I visited. I can then line up a number of tracks for purchase throughout the week and buy them all in one go at a later date. This is useful as it helps to avoid the small charge levied for transactions under £3, a charge that is common to many other online music stores and not just DJD.
One Of The Best Online Customer Services In The World
I have rarely found the need to get in touch with DJD, but as I have been a customer of theirs for several years it’s inevitable that I have been at some point. The customer service I have received from DJD on every occasion has always been absolutely spot on. Staff on the phones and in emails are the nicest, most polite people I have ever met working on customer helplines in pretty much any industry.
Methods Of Payment
I can pay by credit card, Paypal or online ‘wallet’ (if you like you can deposit an amount into a virtual wallet where it is kept until you decide to use it). DJD will store my card details to make checkout a fast and simple process - all that is required is my CVV number from the back of my card and checkout is complete. Simple and fast - two important things I look for when shopping online. A lot of, if not all other, stores do this, but I find DJD’s to be the slickest and hassle-free.
It’s not all roses and cupcakes however, there are a few areas I feel DJD could improve on:
There’s No Specific “Funky House” Genre
Both Juno and TrackItDown have a “Funky House” genre, sadly DJD does not. If it did, this would help me to specifically filter out the tracks I don’t want to listen to and would save me bags of time in the long run. However it has to be said that some of the little gems I’ve come across in the past have been when I’ve strayed unknowingly into a different sub-genre of House so maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. I’d still like it as an option though.
The Audio Player Is Slow And Clunky
DJD was one of the first stores to use the needle-drop technology of previewing a song in its entirety prior to purchase and being able to jump to whatever part of the track you wanted to listen to is a bonus. Nowadays this is quite a common thing to see on other sites and it has to be said that other sites do it much better than DJD, Beatport currently being my favourite in this respect. The trouble with DJD’s player is that it is very slow and clunky to use. For me, the tracks take a long time to load in to the player and do not always start straight away; an unwanted frustration when trying to fly through a load of different tracks.
They Don’t Know Me
Although DJD likes me enough to give me free music, they aren’t too hot on recommending new music to me. When I log in to my account there is a list of tracks that DJD think I will like based on my previous purchases. Unlike Amazon for example, I find that they miss the mark quite far with this feature. The tracks they put forward are rarely good matches for the style I like and often they will suggest music I have already purchased previously. If this was tightened up a bit I feel it would make discovering new music easier, faster and more enjoyable.
In Summary
I hope the guys at DJDownload appreciate all the nice things I have said about their online digital music store and will take on board some of the things I have mentioned that could be improved. All in all they are a great place to shop for music and are easily my favourite simply because they stock the music I like for the best price and give me a free download once in a while combined with great customer service.
All content in this article is correct to the best of my knowledge at time of publication.
No Comments »
No comments yet.
