by Kavelle Anglin-Christie, Staff Reporter

Left: Matthew Gray from Coppershot Disco. - Contributed   Right: The ipod may be the next step in party entertainment with one local promoter promising to start a series of parties which feature the instrument as the source of music. - File

Stop. Stare. Scroll. Stare. Scroll. Play. A possible boo.

According to DJ Inferno, that's what would happen if iPods were to replace CDs.

"How would you juggle music anyway? You would have to stop, scroll and try to find a way to entertain the crowd with some gimmicks in between. You wouldn't be able to wheel up a tune either. You would just be up on-stage with a Nano in your hand instead of Cds and a box. It just doesn't seem real, it wouldn't seem as if I was doing my job," he said.

Inferno says he currently uses Cds to juggle because he likes it that way and "I have never seen anyone use an iPod to play."

By now, it's probably obvious that he wouldn't use one to entertain his crowd: "No, I wouldn't because I like having a record box, I like digging through Cds and having to do something. I wouldn't like to just stand there and look at a screen and scroll to look for different tracks. For me that would be a waste of time. I like the idea of going into my pouch and looking for Cds and I can identify the Cds and songs much easier that way, rather than going into the iPod and trying to remember which folder you put the song in."

makes life easier

John Thompson, managing director of Studio Store, New Kingston (which distributes iPods), sees things differently. He says iPods are the new way to go for those who love music, and this includes selectors.

"Instead of playing a regular CD at parties, an iPod can be used to play the music at parties," he said.

As such, Thompson will be hosting monthly parties, 'iRoc - The iPod revolution in Jamrock', starting this month, to market the product and the idea. "We are trying to get the idea of the use of iPods at parties out there," he said.

Not all selectors, however, care to dismiss the idea just yet.

Matthew of Coppershot says: "It does make life a bit easier. For instance, you can just use two iPods and one iPod costs about US$300 so you could get two of them for US$600. The whole technology thing is moving forward. I have never used it before but I'm interested in seeing what it's all about."

He does admit, nonetheless, that not many would be open to the possibility of switching from records (vinyl) to Cds to iPods: "There are still people who prefer the traditional feel of the records. Switching to Cds was hard enough to do, so you will always have people who will want to stick to what they know and what has been tried and proven," he said.

"... Me personally, I don't mind experimenting, but I prefer using Cds right now with the computer ... I don't really know about the mixer and the features that come with it," he said.