The Lowdown
Digital DJ Pool is an online record pool with a great selection of music along with some cool features that make it stand out including its own social network and a mobile app. The wide variety of music and the intuitive way to search made it easy to dig for music that I may have never found if not for this record pool. It’s cheaper compared to some of the bigger record pools too. Recommended.
Video Review
First Impressions / Setting up
Digital DJ Pool services many different genres and has a great search feature that makes it easier to find the type of tracks you are looking for.
Features like a mobile app that allows you to look for new music even when you are not around your computer, and daily updated charts can help you stay on top of new music releases help give Digital DJ Pool added value over other online record pool options.
DJs subscribe to online record pools to be up to date on the latest music at a reasonable price. Instead of paying for tracks on a per track basis, online record pools allow DJs access to thousands of tracks to add to their collection at a flat monthly fee. Not only can you find the popular tracks that are at the top of the charts but most online record pools have custom DJ-friendly edits, many of which are exclusive to each record pool.
Digital DJ Pool looks to separate itself by providing their service at a cheaper price and include features that aren’t found on other record pools. They even offer a five-day trial for just US$1 which is a great way for DJs who want to give it a try. Even at its competitive price Digital DJ Pool has thousands of tracks spanning a wide variety of genres from hip-hop to deep house to reggaeton.
In Use
To me, the most important aspect of any record pool is the ability to search for the type of music you are looking for. Surprisingly enough, a user-friendly search feature is something that even some of the more expensive record pools do not get right. Thankfully the search feature on Digital DJ Pool has a lot of options and is easy to use.
Of course you can do a normal keyword search, but you are also able to filter it even further by genre, BPM range, and even by key. These options not only make it very easy to find a song you are looking for but can help you find songs you may not be aware of that could fit your search by tempo or key.
Once you’ve found the songs you want to add to your collection you have the option to either download them immediately or add them to your crate. The crate is handy when you are looking to add a bunch of tracks at once and gives you a place to bookmark all of the tracks you’ve found so you can download them in one shot once you are done searching.
Besides using the search function to find the tracks you are looking for, most online record pools have some sort of “trending tracks” or “top charts”. Now most record pools have charts that are updated on a monthly basis to help DJs find the best tracks. Digital DJ Pool takes this a step further by updating their music on a daily basis. These charts are separated by genre so finding not only the newest songs, but songs that fit your style, is an easy task.
Digital DJ Pool takes the idea of “trending charts” even further by adding a social media network component. You are able to follow other members of the record pool and see what tracks they are liking. After following a few DJs, your feed will be populated by liked tracks by the DJs you have decided to follow.
This helps give a more personalised record pool experience by providing recommendations based on DJs that you relate with music-wise. It’s a different kind of community aspect that I wish more record pools had after using Digital DJ Pool.
One feature that is becoming popular with the larger record pools is having a mobile app. The usefulness of the mobile app varies from record pool to record pool and the Digital DJ Pool app is definitely worth the download. Not only do you have the ability to listen to all the tracks that are available on the record pool, but you can save tracks to your crate from the mobile app and download them once you get back to your computer.
Another uncommon feature of the mobile app, for all the portablists and turntablists, is the addition of a looper. This looper contains plenty of endless loops of all different tempos that are perfect for long scratching practice sessions. It’s a feature that I was surprised to see on a record pool app, and shows Digital DJ Pool’s commitment to serving all kinds of DJs.
While all of these features make Digital DJ Pool an overall great experience, it isn’t perfect. The biggest issue I have with Digital DJ Pool is the way their music releases are formatted. Instead of combining the different versions of a song (eg clean, dirty, intro) into one listing on the record pool they are split into separate listings. It helps tidy up the record pool by keeping these versions in the same song listing.
Another shortcoming of Digital DJ Pool is the lack of songs added to the record pool that include intro versions. Intro versions of songs are not a necessity they are a very helpful tool, especially for beginners. These are usually eight or 16 bar instrumentals in the start (intro) and end (outro) that make beatmixing easier by giving you more time to mix, plus they help teach proper phrasing which is even more important. So if your reason for joining a record pool is to find these types of DJ edits, you may want to look for another option.
Conclusion
Overall I enjoyed my experience with Digital DJ Pool. Many of the current record pools that I use favour certain genres or are aimed at certain types of DJs. The wide variety of music and the intuitive way to search made it easy to dig for music that I may have never found if not for this record pool.
One standout feature of Digital DJ Pool to me was the social networking aspect of the service. Being able to see what other DJs that have a similar style are downloading gives a different perspective than just the charts and trends lists that you see on other record pools. The way that following DJs and record labels personalises your feed makes discovering new music on the record pool a more enjoyable and almost addictive experience.
Digital DJ Pool is a great value for an online record pool. The combination of price point, a variety of music, and social aspects make for a record pool that I can see myself using consistently in the future. It may not include all the custom versions of songs like intro/outro versions that other record pools have but it makes up for it with everything else it provides. If you are looking into your first record pool, or adding another record pool to fill the gaps that your current subscriptions are missing, Digital DJ Pool is a great choice.
