iPod DJing, is great, as it allows you to DJ with out a bulky laptop, this however doesn’t mean that you can do away with a laptop altogether, after all, an iPod needs iTunes and a laptop to organize and load music from interestingly DJ programs can be quite pricy and not all are compatible with iTunes or the iPOd, the DJ1800 however was creative with this in mind, and allows you to work with iTunes and DJ at the same time, making it the perfect DJ software for iPoD DJs, its a strictly Mac affair with makes it all that much more iPod friendly, and has interesting functions lik Pitch lock, which allows you to alter tempo with out affecting pitch. It comes with the flexibilty for two out put mode, 1. via the head phone port and a secondary out put, or via a multi channel external sound card, the DJ1800 is also compatible with various MIDI controllers so you can Dj from your laptop, a fully documented plugin API means that for any tech geeks out there, you can create your own plugins and controllers, making ti possible to convert an iPod or an iPhone into a controller for the DJ1800.
Specifically for the iPod, the iTunes libary is fully integrated into DJ1800, there is also plug and play support of any iPod, like-wise for the iPhone, or iPod Touch, perhaps most significantly the DJ1800 allows you to save mixes, StartPoint, AutoGain and BPM values to iTunes and therefore your iPod, iPhone and iPod Touch. You can find more information on DJ1800 here.
So the eagerly anticipated iPod phone or iPhone 3G will be launched in the UK on the 11th July 2008, it still has that unique Apple styling whilst the casing and the shape retains much of its original sharp and clean cut design, the difference between the iPhone 3G and the iPhone , is that the iPhone 3G has 3G wireless technology, GPS mapping technology and will support more business features such as Microsoft Exchange and like the original iPhone you get an iPod, phone and internet browsing tool all in one with that revolutionary and ground breaking multi-touch screen that made the iPhone so popular. As with the original iPhone, you get access to the app store, where you can download and use various free (and not so free) applications to use on your iPhone, naturally these include a handful of DJing related apps that allow you to DJ on your iPod iPhone, the fact that you have Wi-Fi internet on your iPhone means that you can literally download DJing apps on the go and use them there and then.
All this makes the iPhone 3G one of the most eagerly anticipated products of the year,a nd some companies have taken advantage of this, if you’re looking to make free calls on your Apple iPod iPhone 3G, then you might find Truphone and their VoIP service to be a great asset allowing you to make cheap and free local and international calls.
Here’s a little treat for you iPhone and iPod touch DJs, the video shows another new program for iPod touch and iPhone users that allows the iPod touch and iphone as a Midi controller for Ableton, it brings the concept of a midi controller a step more in line with with iPods than the PS2 midi controller.
Here’s a video that really shows the potential of the iPod phone or iPhone and iPod touch, interestingly, what looks like a nintendo DS is also used in the video. Its difficult to tell if the iPod is an iPod phone or an iPod touch as they both look very similar, in addition, they both allow iPod DJs to add third party applications in the same way, this is done by altering the code of the operating program in the iPod touch or iPod phone (more on this later).
Apple have recently launched the iPod touch SDK Developers program, iPod touch and iPhone Developer Program provides a complete and integrated process for developing, debugging, and distributing free, commercial, or in-house applications native to iPhone and iPod touch. It comes complete with development resources, real-world testing on iPhone, and distribution on the App Store, so you have everything you need to go from code to customer.
For normal DJs and iPod users this is pretty insignificant, in that we wouldn’t need to ever handle this kind of stuff, however for programmers and developers this has huge implications, allowing them to create applications that run native on the iPod and iPhone… why would us iPod DJing fans care?
Well, there’s been plenty of noise made about creating an iPod application that allows you to DJ on the iPod, iPod touch, or iPhone without the need for a third party controller or without having to Jailbreak the iPhone.
There are a few applications that already allow you to DJ on an iPhone, but non are really full spec DJ applications and really don’t do the iPod any justice.
Anyways, if you’re an iPod fan, and a DJ and a Developer, then this might be of use to you.
The fifth beta version of the iPhone SDK includes Xcode IDE, iPhone simulator with Open GL ES support, Interface Builder, Instruments, frameworks and samples, compilers, and Shark analysis tool. Has now been launched and its free to trial, here.
For those of you who are really serious, there is the iFund, a $100M investment initiative that will fund market-changing ideas and products that extend the revolutionary new iPhone and iPod touch platform, provided by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
