New DJ needs organization

[Tomm Williams]

My wife recently began a DJ service as a side business to our sound reinforcement operation. She's done two gigs so far that were well received but she is far from comfortable with it. She needs another system/method for tracking her music. She uses typed pages of her songs stapled together for reference. This isn't working that well as she finds herself flipping pages too much or having papers all over her table. Maybe it's the way they're listed on the page? I don't know. What do you guys do to keep track of what you have for music? She uses CD's and she's not interested in bringing her laptop. Any other beginner advice is welcome

[trevcda]

When I used physical media, I used a number of different programs (and meticulous alphabetizing!) to keep track. One that worked particularly well was a karaoke program. It allowed you to print out list based on artist, genre, title, etc. All those list in one book for fairly quick location of songs. Having said that, really take a second look at doing it all from a computer. It's all listed right there, you can build playlists, set it for automix and other features that make it indespensable. I use Virtual DJ, which is not the be all end all of programs, but does most everything I want it to. I back it up with an iPod in the bag, just in case. Virtual DJ has a trial version on thier website you can play around with.