Lesser-known Mac DJ app MegaSeg has become the first DJ app that lets you DJ with all your music in iTunes – whether that’s your own music files or music you’ve added to your library as part of an Apple Music subscription.
This development blurs to the point of it not mattering the distinction between music you own and music you effectively “rent” via Apple Music – at least for MegaSeg users who manage their music in iTunes.
And while MegaSeg is not a mainstream player among our audience (it’s nonetheless a long-standing program, majoring on audio and video mixing and music automation for hospitality, radio and so on – although it does have features aimed at mobile and club DJs), notwithstanding any legal or licensing issues this could be the start of a similar change across all DJ programs.
Were this to happen, it could even herald iTunes coming in from the cold (having become increasingly less appealing as a music management choice for DJs – thanks in part to its clunky integration of Apple Music, alongside the general bloat it has suffered over the years).
So what exactly has changed?
Tracks you add to your iTunes library from Apple Music (remember, the Apple Music streaming service is built right in to iTunes, unlike standalone services like Spotify) show right there in iTunes, alongside your local music – which for consumers is great. (Indeed, we predict most consumers won’t even bother buying music very soon.)
Apple Music also offers you the choice of downloading your favourite tracks from the streaming service to your local iTunes copy, so you can play them without being connected to the internet.
This latter feature would potentially be perfect for DJs wanting to play such music, because once they’re there in iTunes, to all intents and purposes, they are no different from bought tracks (as long as you keep up your Apple Music subscription, of course).
The trouble is, that’s where the good news ends for DJs, as those Apple Music tracks simply don’t show in DJ apps, meaning you can’t play them there (it’s even that way in Algoriddim’s DJ apps, despite that company being very close to Apple). And while some DJ apps do have streaming service built in (Serato DJ and rekordbox DJ have Pulselocker, the aforementioned Algoriddim goes with Spotify), it’s not as convenient for DJs who already have and use iTunes for local music.
So what’s changed is that MegaSeg treats those Apple Music tracks just like local music – they are right there alongside your local tracks in the software’s library.
And while we haven’t had a chance to test this yet, MegaSeg’s developer tells us: “Yes, MegaSeg can play downloaded Apple Music tracks. We’re working on tighter integration, but it’s very workable.”
Would you like to see a similar function integrated into your choice of DJ software? Are you a MegaSeg user who uses this feature? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments.