Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. | Rev A2, November, 2005 |
DJ Operation
The DJ plays tracks belonging to a temporary list of tracks known as “Selected Music” and the track that is currently playing is known as the “Current Track”. Very logical you say. Tracks can be added to whatever is present in the selected music list, or the list can be replaced entirely with either a new list or just a single track. For example, you can select a bird family (artist) and add to or replace the selected music list with all species in that family; or do the same with the contents of a predefined playlist.
The selected music list survives power off and the track that was playing when the unit was powered off starts to play when it is powered on again. However, it’s important to realize that although the Selected Music list can be loaded from a stored playlist, an entire family list, or created on the fly by adding species one at a time, the list cannot be saved to disk as a named playlist (either on the DJ or when connected to the computer). Consequently, I create all regularly used lists on the computer and transfer them to the DJ.
The Selected Music list is accessed by selecting Now Playing from the Main Menu (DJ Screen 7). Initially, the current contents of Selected Music are displayed (DJ Screen 8) then after five seconds the currently playing track is displayed (DJ Screen 9).
To get from the currently playing track to another track already in the Selected Music list, all that is required is to roll the scroll- select dial which immediately redisplays Selected Music and allows a new selection to be made.
To add a species from a playlist or family requires returning to the main menu (see DJ Screens
To retain the current contents of Selected Music, it pays to be careful when adding to the list. Refer to DJ Screen 6 on page 9. If “Play Track” is inadvertently selected instead of the intended “Add to Selected”, the new track becomes the only track in Selected Music.
All this may seem a little complicated but it soon becomes second nature.
© Copyright Stuart Healy | www.aztrogon.com | Page 22 of 25 |
