Here is how the DJ works -=56K WARNING=-

papajake · 03-12-05, 04:53 AM

I’m a man with little patience. When I ordered my Dell DJ-30 I couldn’t wait to see that big beautiful brown van pulling in my driveway to deliver me the goods. While I was waiting I read virtually every review there is on the internet for the device, but I was sad to see that there were only a handful of reviews, and the ones that did exist offered only a few pictures and little information about the GUI (graphical user interface) of the product. I swore to myself once I got it I’d write up something to wet the appetite for those who are waiting for the UPS man (who, on a side note, seriously needs to wear longer shorts), or those who are thinking of getting one. Here it is.:)

This is mainly an overview of how it works, and how you get around inside the dell DJ. I’m using a Dell DJ-30 generation 2 with firmware 1.00.03. Later firmware will have different options/layout then the ones described in this write-up.

When you turn the device on for the first time you’ll first see a Dell logo, followed by the main menu. After the first time the DJ will automatically load the last place you were every time you turn it on again.

The main menu consists of 5 options…

Music Library
Now Playing
Play Mode
Date & Time
Settings & Info

Clicking Music Library will offer you options to go to: Playlist, Albums, Artists, Genres, Recordings, Play All Music Tracks, View All Tracks, and an arrow pointing left, which is the universal sign for “return to the previous screen”.

there are also two other options not shown in this picture, which are View All Tracks and <-- (return)

From here you can choose how you get to your songs. Dell (actually Creative wrote the firmware) did a pretty good job making it easy to find whatever it is you’re looking for. They understand one minute you might want to listen to the entire David Hasselhoff album you don’t tell your buddies you own, and other times you just want to listen to 1 track all by itself. In any of the categories there is an always-on-top option to search. It lists a drop down box that you can click the letter, and it will jump you to the letter you chose to make it easier to find whatever it is you’re looking for.

From the Music Library menu you can also play recorded audio (I don’t have the microphone/fm receiver, so I can’t offer too much info about that). The add-on device is available here for $49.95.

Once you find a song, you can click on it to get a pop-up option box. The options are Play Track, View Track Details, Add To Selected, Delete Track, and <--. Clicking Add To Selected lets you put it in the rotation of the music you are already listening to. Clicking View Track Details shows various information about the track.

Back on the Main Menu screen, the option after Music Library is Now Playing. Clicking on that brings up a pop-up box that says Current Track, Selected Music, Clear Selection, and <--. Selected music shows what’s in the current rotation, and Clear Selection clears your current playlist. Clicking Current Track will show information about the audio that’s currently playing including how long the audio has been playing, how long it has left, artist, album, etc.

Back to the Main Menu screen, the next option is Play Mode, where you can choose how the songs will playback. Clicking on it will give you the standard options (Shuffle, Repeat, Repeat all, etc).

papajake · 03-12-05, 04:53 AM

The next option on the Main Menu is Date & Time. Clicking it shows three options – Time, Sleep Timer, and View Calendar. Clicking on time brings up a pop up box with the options: Set Date & Time, Time Format, Date Format, and Date Separator. Time Format offers 24 or 12 hour, Date Format offers the standard MM DD YYYY, DD MM YYYY, etc, and Date Separator lets you choose either a ., /, or – to separate the digits. Sleep Timer offers 10 minutes to 120 minutes time until the DJ powers down. Clicking View Calendar will show a calendar. Not too much else to say about that besides you can scroll to different months.

The final option on the Main Menu is Settings & Info. Clicking on that brings you to the settings & info screen, with an option for both. Clicking on Settings will bring you to another screen with these options: Owner, EQ Settings, Backlight Time, Contrast, Idle Shutdown, Language, Reset Settings, and <--. Clicking Owner will allow you to change the owner name (duh), EQ Settings will allow you to set various pre-configured eq settings (or to make your own), Backlight Time allows you to adjust how long the backlight will stay on after you press a button, Contrast will adjust the darkness of the text, Idle Shutdown lets you have it turn itself off after a given amount of inactive time, and Language and Reset Settings are pretty self explanatory. The EQ Settings lets you choose from Off, Acoustic, Classical, Disco, Jazz, New Age, Pop, Rock, and Vocal. You can also choose Custom EQ and set your own levels from +12 to -12 db.

Back to the Settings and Info screen, if you choose info, a screen will that shows Firmware, Total Space, Free Space, Track Count, Album Count, and Playlist Count. None of these are selectable.

That’s pretty much it. If anyone knows of anything I can add, or any other pictures I can take PM me and I’ll do my best to get it added.

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platypustamer · 03-12-05, 08:04 AM

Wow....nice post. I'm sure this will help a lot of noobs. + to you.

imported_Flip · 03-12-05, 09:11 AM

wow, sticky this one for sure. + rep for ya, too!

Kailess · 03-12-05, 09:38 AM

Excellent post - I would love to have seen this when I was shopping. Way to use your noggin, papajake!

imported_MystkLp · 03-12-05, 01:06 PM

very nice +1 to you as well.. but should this be moved to the review section or like punk said stick it?

imported_MeTaL · 03-12-05, 02:12 PM

Very good review....if you would want to make it complete, you could take some pics of the dj explorer and maybe musicmatch. I am pretty sure I've never seen pics of the DJ explorer at work anywhere. It might help people who are new to the dj... :)

Really good work...

patricklp2 · 03-12-05, 03:43 PM

nice post.

KaRaZyJeW · 03-12-05, 06:24 PM

Very nice... lotsa time put into this... def +rep to you!

DM. · 03-13-05, 01:24 AM

Nice nice nice.... +rep to you man!

imported_Sparky · 03-13-05, 12:58 PM

Quote:

but should this be moved to the review section or like punk said stick it?

Excellent post, I would say it should be moved to the review section. This is the type of info I was looking for when I was shopping for my DJ.

imported_Jammin · 03-14-05, 02:27 PM

Great, helpful post. I'm going to sticky this for a while, so people can see it...

davinp · 03-14-05, 04:21 PM

Thanks. I have a Dell DJ20 (Gen1), and the screen a few minor differences:
Home screen shows Recordings, Settings, Information. I have no Date & Time. Note Recordings is on the Home screen instead of the Music Library screen. The firmeware version is 1.20.03, instead of 1.00.03 Other than that, everything else is the same.

CatLikeClaws · 03-15-05, 01:07 PM

just got mine yesterday, DJ 30 now tryin to find out the damn MMJ.

nice post though!

imported_Jammin · 03-15-05, 04:04 PM

Don't use MM, it just plain sucks, switch to Dell DJ Explorer, or buy Dudebox.