Are you prowling for high-quality music streaming services? If so, you’ll be happy to know that you aren’t alone. A substantial number of music lovers and DJs are always on the hunt for music streaming solutions.
The good news is many services do exist on the web. However, I can tell you that most of them aren’t worth considering. You want a service that lives up to all of your expectations. It’s here Beatport Link comes into the scenario. Let’s figure out whether the service makes the right choice for you.
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Video Review
What is Beatport LINK
Essentially, it’s a service that allows you to access insane amounts of music, the whole Beatport library, for a monthly subscription.
Just sign up, get a link, build a playlist, and you’re ready to set the stage on fire. Essentially, you get to set your DJ booth in a cloud platform effortlessly.
Highlights
Beatport Link is a revolutionary music streaming service meant for DJs. It helps you access RecordboxDJ and WeDJ. I won’t say that the service is the best. It has flaws.
After all, it’s in the Beta stage now.
Despite this fact, the implementation is amazing. Why? It works digitally. While DJs enjoy a slew of benefits from this innovative service, the “Offline Locker” does look very promising.
Although the existing terms “say” that you can’t perform with Beatport Link in public, I can say for sure that this is a potential new trend for the digital DJ world.
Getting Started
As mentioned earlier, it’s a streaming service that allows users to access the entire Beatport catalogue based on paying a monthly subscription.
When you become a member of the Beatport LINK service, you get to stream from the Beatport catalog right to your DJ software. At this point in time, you can expect the service to work with the most popular DJ software. These include Serato, rekordbox, Virtual DJ, etc.
Users can subscribe to the Beatport LINK service on their official website. After joining, you could create playlists and add songs. Then you may access those playlists (inside the DJ app) while spinning.
Note that you can only access Beatport LINK in the performance mode, not export mode. In other words, members can’t export music from the service to their thumbnail drives or external hard drive.
As far as subscription options go, you get three choices: the Beatport Link, Beatport Link pro, and Beatport Link pro plus.
Most features of all three subscriptions are the same. However, you can only use the locker feature (an innovative one) through the pro and pro plus accounts. So, what’s so special about this innovative feature? Well, the feature allows you to download songs in the DJ software. So, you get to spin with those songs even without an Internet connection.
The basic account tagged at 14.99 dollars per month lets you stream songs. Beatport pro (39.99 dollars per month) allows you to stream and create playlists. Additionally, you can use the Offline Locker option with storage for up to 50 songs. Then you have the premium option – Beatport pro plus at 59.99 dollars a month. You get all features as in the pro account along with other options such as extra storage and the ability to download 100 songs.
We joined the pro plan to get familiar with the features and perks of the service. Thankfully, the service lives up to your expectations. It works!
In Use
Creating Playlists
First of all, you need to create your playlists on Beatport Link.
Then you may access the playlist within a Beatport Link folder located in RekordboxDJ. Right now, you don’t have the option of creating or adding songs to your Beatport Link playlists within RekordboxDJ. The playlist magic all happens on the Beatport App.
Whether you’re an experienced DJ or just getting started in the field, Beatport Link will have something for you. There are more than six million songs in the Beatport catalog. After all, it’s the biggest virtual music specialist outlet.
All you need is an account at Beatport Link and an Internet connection to rock the world. You could make playlists through your browser and add tracks as you wish. You may have as many playlists as you want in your account. Those playlists appear in your WeDJ/RekordboxDJ when you’re logged into your account.
One of the best functions is the ease that you can add tracks to a playlist effortlessly. You add a song to a playlist by simply using the drop-down menu right beside the track which is remarkably fast and easy. This is similar to when purchasing a song and adding it to your Beatport collection.
In-app browsing
The Beatport catalog can also be accessed from your DJ software collection browser. The option doesn’t look as easy or promising as the Beatport website, not bt a long shot.
Also, you can’t add songs to your playlist through this option.
Despite this limitation, you can search the catalog and surf different genres to make your choice.
All things considered, it’s just a bit harder to get along when compared to doing the same actions through the Beatport website. I suppose it has been made like that so the Beatport LINK platform is your HQ for this streaming model.
After finding a suitable song, you can drag and drop it in your decks. It’s as simple as you may do with your normal music library.
So, no hassles or technicalities are involved in the process. That saves your time and legwork when populating your deck. Furthermore, you get a chance to load your deck and play your preferred songs even with no Internet connection. This comes in the form of the Offline Locker.
Offline Locker
The Offline Locker provides some of the best features to any DJ. The truth is that this innovative option is enough to differentiate Beatport Link from others on the web. Let’s delve deeper to find how the Offline Locker works and what benefits it has for you.
First of all, Offline Locker lets you store up to 100 songs if you have a pro-plus account. For Beatport Link pro-plan users, the limitation is 50 songs.
Once you sign in to the website, you can play those songs even without a Wi-Fi connection.
That means you don’t have to worry about your Internet connection. Should the Wi-Fi connection pose problems somewhere in the middle, it won’t impact your entertainment.
Just forget about Wi-Fi and focus on your song and playlists. So, you stay connected with your entertainment without having an Internet connection.
Just make sure you download the songs into the Offline Locker feature before the Wi-Fi goes off.
If you succeed in your attempt, you may play the songs and enjoy DJing without bothering about online connectivity. Most of the users may think that it could be just all hype to promote the product.
Well, in the case of most products the features are over-hyped for selling.
But this is excellent and a game-changer.
Does it work?
We checked the Offline Locker feature and are happy with all that’s advertised. Nothing falls short here. The truth is the Offline Locker feature works as promised without any problems or “hype”!
I prepared a wonderful playlist of disco tunes and it worked. After downloading those tunes, I stored them in the Offline Locker option. Next, I closed my laptop ID and moved on to the gig.
Here, I opened my laptop and plugged it into my controller to start spinning. To my surprise, I was able to mix tracks. It was a superb experience. So, I can say for sure that the Offline Locker option is something unique and worth trying for any music enthusiast.
Shortcomings of Beatport LINK
Remember, the service isn’t without flaws. The biggest downside is you don’t get ownership of the music. You can play it like any common music lover.
You can’t change the track metadata even if you download songs into the Offline Locker. It also means that no type of editing in tracks is possible, which is an option in Ableton Live.
Plus, you can’t tap the Record feature while playing music from Beatport Link’s website.
So, your practice sessions or mixing ideas could get a hit.
Restricted use
Beatport Link is meant for personal use only. No user can stream songs for commercial purposes. So, professionals looking for something innovative for their public performance may not find Beatport Link so useful.
They can only practice and enjoy a new level of streaming.
Maybe, sometime soon, the site owners may come up with something more intuitive and offer more freedom and control to experienced DJ players.
But right now, Beatport Link suits any music lovers to play songs or make a playlist for personal entertainment.
Final Thoughts on Beatport LINK
I’m a big fan of streaming. For me, Beatport Link has turned out to be the most innovative streaming implementation in the DJ software.
I just felt that a new world of DJ surfaced in front of me. Even at these early stages, the Beatport LINK website and its features look quite convincing.
So, give it a try and enjoy a new horizon of DJ streaming.
