Question for DJs who switched from vinyl to Serato

[mudfoot)))]

I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who DJed with vinyl for a long time - say, 5+ years, and then switched to Serato. From that perspective, how do they compare? I've used Serato a couple of times and it felt pretty much identical to DJing with vinyl, but there must be some differences you notice over time. I've been DJing for about 15 years so it would be a major change, and I'm not sure I'm ready to make the jump - but I like the idea of buying tunes for one or two dollars instead of 11 or 12. At that rate it would pay for itself and I'd be able to buy a lot more music, but it's still a lot of money up front. I also heard that some major vinyl manufacturers are going out of business, so maybe now is the time. Anyone care to share their experience?

[billy the robot]

Yeah I've been mixing vinyl since 1993 and have only recently(like in the last 6 months) had a chance to use Serato. Advantages are obvious, I can walk in with 1000 tracks on a thumb drive and I'm set, not that you'd get to play that many songs in a 1-2 hour slot, but I'm sure we've all had that moment when your scrambling to find that one beat and remember you left it on your table at home...it's easy to play you own mash-ups and little custom tweaks without having to get a dub cut(well I guess there's CD players also...) Biggest advantage for me is still still getting to use the analog pitch control on say a Technics 1200. Any other kind of digital deck or cd player or controller that I've ever tried to use frustrates me in that respect, it's hard to get that tracks tempo LOCKED, one notch up is too fast, one notch down too slow...Also, I would definitely invest in the carts specifically for use with Serato, makes a noticeable difference. I've noticed a very slight lag when cueing, more noticeable if you're trying to scratch, if you're into that stick with some Dirtstyles plates or something. Not getting to "read" the grooves in the record was a little awkward at first, but you have that waveform display on screen that kinda represents that. Some say the sound quality lacks compared to vinyl, and while not the maybe not the same it's still heavy and bangin'. So yeah I'm a fan of Serato. Hope this helps! >>> btr aka MANIC ONE