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One reason is that a lot of music is only released on vinyl, and its really really hard to find it in mp3 form, mostly because its a bigger pain in the ass to convert from vinyl to mp3 compared to CD to mp3.

Another reason to have a DJ is that the good ones will find new tracks that are unheard of, fresh sounds. This is good for the club, because if word gets around that their resident DJ is spinning some hot UK garage or something, people will come to check it out. Not neccessarily because of trendiness, but more out of a desire to be exposed to new things. I'll admit that there's posers out there who stand around and nod their heads a bit, but really have no idea what they are listening to. Depends on the club you go to.

Vinyl sounds warmer and has more sonic range than CDs, and also its easier to beat-match on turntables than on CDs (IMO).
If you are going hear a club where the DJ is advertised as playing hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s, the DJ is basically playing to the lowest common denominator, and you really might as well stay home.

I also think that some DJs, like Donald Glaude, can be really entertaining and engage the audience, although a good majority of them end up looking like complete knobs. One of the reasons that electronic music has not acheived the mainstream success is the lack of DJ personalities. That's a good thing, if you ask me. Its time we stop idolizing and mythologizing musicians, and if the people who can't enjoy music without that are dissuaded from the genre, its no great loss.

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Solid Steel yet! I hear they have all of 'em at Groovetech, but I haven't found 'em yet. Contact me if you're interested in them, I wouldn't mind trading some shows ... especially since I don't have them all yet.

Indeed Groovetech.com is a really good source for this type of music. I buy most of my 12" from there a lot.

On another not, I'm sure this guy will like to explore many other genres that fall under or near this style of music. There is a lot out there... To name a few you've got: House, Trip Hop, D&B, Dub, NuJazz, Acid Jazz, Trance, Progressive Trance, Progressive House, Break Beats, Goa, Disco House/French House, Rare Grooves, and the list can go on...

To acquire this music (legally :), as mentioned above, my first stop is usually groovetech Not only are they a great source for 12" singles or CDs, but if you look around you find they have a list of links to sponsored live streams of DJ Sets (Sneak-E Pete is always a must for the break beat afficionado).

My second stop is usually a visit to Satellite Records in NYC, if you don't live there or near there, you can always visit them at http://www.satelliterecords.com. They are pretty heavy into Trance and Progressive Trance/House... Similar to Groove Tech, most of their releases can be sampled with Real Audio. Not a very sexy site, but it gets the job done. On a side note, sometimes I find visiting the site a better experience than going to the store. The staff can be very pretentious, even Rodger Sanchez was treated like a turd before anyone knew him as Rodger Sanchez.

From there, I will then travel to Dance Tracks (also in NYC). To check out a lot of the House, Nu Jazz, Trip Hop, Dub, and a lot of golden nuggets that come out of the "Experimental" category. They too have Real Audio samples... A visit to the store is usually a pleasure, however, try going early as it does get a little busy after 5pm on week days and there's usually someone spinning (which is sometimes loud when you are trying to sample the music).

Now when it comes to just listening to new tunes, try out the following places:

Radio FG - Radio FG is a french radio station that specializes in House. They offer many different streaming options, so no platform should be left out. They even offer a real-time updated play list (w/ timestamps), so if you need to know the name of that tune, it's there to see.

Groove Factory - Home of the Bedroom DJ Project and a source for many DJ streams is Groove Factory from the San Fran area. This site offers a vast library of archived streams... The down side, not many people like Windows Media streaming sources.

Radio 1 - Radio 1, the popular BBC radio station famous for their "Essential Mix" series also has a live Stream. Although they do not specialize in Electronica, they do have a few shows that are a must. As i type right now, they are broadcasting live from the Berlin Love Parade... I find their charts for dance music helpful when trying to find those hot new main stream tracks that hit the clubs here a few months later.

Ministry of Sound - Popular in the US for their DJ compilation CDs, Ministry of Sound is the mainstream source for electronica. The site, which is not much to be desired, has info on up and coming artists and a Vital Vinyl list.

Now if you are into underground/lesser know bands w/o a record deal you can always search the web...

For instance, for those with a little love of the industrial/techno area Loss of Will is a Pittsburg, PA based band. You can listen to demos of their songs and even purchase a ($7!!!!!) CD from their site...

Enjoy, and let keep the bass pumping.

Tobin
tobin@nospammingme.dubiousknowledge.com (remove the nospammingme to reply, duh =)

My favorite place to shop is Groovetech. They cater more to DJs and consequently carry mostly vinyl, but they do have quite a few CDs. Probably the best thing about them is that they have lots of audio samples for pretty much everything they've ever carried, in stock or not (RealAudio, but nobody's perfect). You could probably spend the rest of your life listening to tracks on their site.

If you find yourself appreciating DnB in any of its numerous flavors, a good DnB-oriented US retailer is Breakbeat Science. Their website isn't as groovy, but they get in lots of stuff that Groovetech doesn't.

If you find yourself doing more than casual buying and you're in the US, another option to consider is to buy stuff directly from Europe (which really is the epicenter of the electronic music scene). After VAT deductions, and with no import duties, the cost is usually competitive with buying in-country; the upside being that you have a huge selection (basically everything that's released), the downside being the time it takes for your purchases to wing their way across the pond (unless you choose to splurge on speedier shipment). I've ordered from Juno Records in the UK several times and have never had a problem.

If you get into DJ-style trainspotting for releases in your favorite genre, you'll quickly come to realize that despite being huge in Europe, the dance music industry still is mostly driven by a large number of small labels, mostly created and run by the artists themselves. It's similar to the US Indie Rock scene. Consequently, distribution is not nearly as universal as one might hope for. You can spend a lot of time checking many different sources for releases. Fortunately, most labels and many of their distributors sell directly through their websites.

Lastly, don't be afraid of vinyl! Eventually, you will discover tracks in mixes or DJ sets that you want that won't ever be available in any other format. A Technics SL-1200/1210 MkII or M3D turntable, still the preference of the vast majority of working DJs, will set you back $500-$600 with a good cartridge, will probably last longer than you will. With 78 dB s/n, it's a perfectly adequate source for making MP3s (not CD quality, but is your sound card even that clean?), and then you can store your vinyl away and not have to worry about wear. There are similarly priced offerings from Vestax which are more popular with scratch and other technique-oriented DJs, as well as lower-priced DJ- and consumer-oriented offerings from such companies as American DJ, Denon, Gemini, Numark, Sony, Stanton, and Technics. There are also innumerable pricey "audiophile" turntables, but unless you're in the tube-amp camp I'd steer clear. A more recent class of turntables such as the Stanton STR8-100 and Denon DP-DJ150 have internal A/D and a SPDIF output. A 24/96 card such as one of the M-Audio (formerly Midiman) Delta cards is probably a more flexible way to do the same thing; use quality audio cables to minimize noise pickup between the turntable and sound card.

My background--I used to do college radio, but now I'm just a semi-obsessive music lover. I've never been a working DJ. My favorite dance genre is dark/tech DnB, but my other music love is death metal ;-)

I don't post much because I'll just get laughed at, but this is one topic I know a thing or three about.
These artists represent some of the best in electronic music including Acid Jazz, Ambient, Trip Hop, Drum 'n' Bass, and House.
Air, Amon Tobin, Bill Laswell, Björk, Bobby Hughes Experience, Brian Eno, Boozoo Bajou, Cibo Matto, Coldcut, DJ Mark Farina, DJ Spooky, Dusted, dZihan & Kamien, Femi Kuti, Fila Brazillia, Howie B, Kid Loco, Kruder & Dorfmeister, L.S.G, LTJ Bukem, Massive Attack, Nightmares on Wax, Prefuse 73, Roni Size, Smith & Mighty, Syrup, Talvin Singh, Terra Nova Thievery Corporation, Underworld
On the web check out betalounge, groovetech, epitonic, and thedownbeat

Groovetech has thousands of audio/video broadcasts archived from the sets of many big and small name DJs. They also keep a healthy selection of vinyl that you can sample and purchase.

Tweekin Records is my favorite place to shop for vinyl. They're based out of San Francisco, update their site w/new records weekly, and have MP3 audio samples of all their records.

Satellite Records, based out of NYC, is another good place to preview and order records. All their samples are in real audio.

It's not exactly the most undeground site in the world, but the quality of the music and info is first class - the BBC Radio 1 website covers the UK's #1 modern music station. During the day it plays very mainstream material, but at nights a load of specialist shows come on including a lot of dance music.

Pete Tong's friday night show is considered something of a trendsetter, while shows like Gile's Petersons Worldwide, Mary Anne Hobbes Breezeblock and the Unstoppable Annie Nightingale explore other parts of the music. This week they're also spending the weekend at the love Parade in berlin - so expect lots of tough teutonic tech trance.

But! Best of all - Radio 1 is the home of the Essential Mix - every week they give over 2 hours of airtime to a featured DJ who gets to play what they like, without any Ads or jingles to get in the way. These shows are legendary, search on your favourite p2p network and you'll find them. The BBC even somewhat encourages taping of the shows - they used to get tape inlays published in major Dance music Magazines like Mixmag and Musik. If you can't find those then tracklistings.org have a fairly complete archive of who played what and when.

But... if you want to stay legit then Radio 1 has started storing the shows for a week so you can go in any time and listen to what you missed - it's all in real audio.... but don't balk just yet - Radio 1 was one of teh BBC stations participating in the OGG test earlier this year - so maybe if you e-mail the right people often enough then you'll get it back.

Other online dance music places I'd recommend are Groovetech which for me is mainly a place to buy vinyl, but they feature a lot of radio shows, extended samples and interviews. LiveDJs.com used to be good, but has kinda died out - I even played a few gigs there. Epitonic has a neat feature for newbies - they have little streams which basically introduce particular genres of music - they also have quite a lot of free tracks to try.

On the Musical recommendations side - I'm big into breakbeat right now - look for artists like Hybrid, BT, Plump DJ's or compilations like Y4K. I'd love to point people at a .ogg of a CD mix I did on www.djsnm.com - but the last time I put a direct link from slashdot I almost exceeded my Bandwidth limits.

I've been a DJ for years, I plyed old school raves in the UK, evaded police and escaped with my record collection.... and I still play the latest stuff now I'm in San Francisco. Come out to An Sibin (1176 Sutter at Polk) on Monday nights and catch my weekly gig.

I suggest visiting Groovetech. They have a huge selection with RealAudio samples. Most of the records they sell are vinyl (do you have a turntable?), but you can get an idea for the different genres and or artists. They also broadcast streaming audio/video preformances and most of the dj's will tell you what tracks they spun. Have fun!

I tend to like all sorts of techno, house, breaks, trance, etc. I get all this pretty much on demand from Groovetech.com

They have a store where you can sample and buy Vinyl, but if you check out the broadcast section you can get live DJs mixing for you 12 hours a day from Seattle, London and San Francisco.

If you're not into what's playiing live, then check out the archives. There's probably over a thousand hour-2hour sets all nicely searchable by genre, date and dj.

Another good site (though the archives seem broken to me now) is thewomb.com. Those of you from Miami will recognise that thewomb.com is a rebroadcast of one fo the local radio stations.

Anyone into funky/spoulful/disco house should check their favorite p2p application for terrance parker. He's a dj along the lines of dimitri from paris, but 10X better and from detroit.

Thewomb.com also has videos of some cool stuff if you can wait for the download.

That's what I do for original music on the web. I haven't run out of sets to try on groovetech.com yet, though I have my favorites that I listen to occasionaly. Groovetech.com also has streaming video of the dj's mixing, so having a really cute dj spinning funky breaks is a nice perk(naha, requires realplayer or equiv)

I tend to like all sorts of techno, house, breaks, trance, etc. I get all this pretty much on demand from Groovetech.com

They have a store where you can sample and buy Vinyl, but if you check out the broadcast section you can get live DJs mixing for you 12 hours a day from Seattle, London and San Francisco.

If you're not into what's playiing live, then check out the archives. There's probably over a thousand hour-2hour sets all nicely searchable by genre, date and dj.

Another good site (though the archives seem broken to me now) is thewomb.com. Those of you from Miami will recognise that thewomb.com is a rebroadcast of one fo the local radio stations.

Anyone into funky/spoulful/disco house should check their favorite p2p application for terrance parker. He's a dj along the lines of dimitri from paris, but 10X better and from detroit.

Thewomb.com also has videos of some cool stuff if you can wait for the download.

That's what I do for original music on the web. I haven't run out of sets to try on groovetech.com yet, though I have my favorites that I listen to occasionaly. Groovetech.com also has streaming video of the dj's mixing, so having a really cute dj spinning funky breaks is a nice perk(naha, requires realplayer or equiv)

I tend to like all sorts of techno, house, breaks, trance, etc. I get all this pretty much on demand from Groovetech.com

They have a store where you can sample and buy Vinyl, but if you check out the broadcast section you can get live DJs mixing for you 12 hours a day from Seattle, London and San Francisco.

If you're not into what's playiing live, then check out the archives. There's probably over a thousand hour-2hour sets all nicely searchable by genre, date and dj.

Another good site (though the archives seem broken to me now) is thewomb.com. Those of you from Miami will recognise that thewomb.com is a rebroadcast of one fo the local radio stations.

Anyone into funky/spoulful/disco house should check their favorite p2p application for terrance parker. He's a dj along the lines of dimitri from paris, but 10X better and from detroit.

Thewomb.com also has videos of some cool stuff if you can wait for the download.

That's what I do for original music on the web. I haven't run out of sets to try on groovetech.com yet, though I have my favorites that I listen to occasionaly. Groovetech.com also has streaming video of the dj's mixing, so having a really cute dj spinning funky breaks is a nice perk(naha, requires realplayer or equiv)

I tend to like all sorts of techno, house, breaks, trance, etc. I get all this pretty much on demand from Groovetech.com

They have a store where you can sample and buy Vinyl, but if you check out the broadcast section you can get live DJs mixing for you 12 hours a day from Seattle, London and San Francisco.

If you're not into what's playiing live, then check out the archives. There's probably over a thousand hour-2hour sets all nicely searchable by genre, date and dj.

Another good site (though the archives seem broken to me now) is thewomb.com. Those of you from Miami will recognise that thewomb.com is a rebroadcast of one fo the local radio stations.

Anyone into funky/spoulful/disco house should check their favorite p2p application for terrance parker. He's a dj along the lines of dimitri from paris, but 10X better and from detroit.

Thewomb.com also has videos of some cool stuff if you can wait for the download.

That's what I do for original music on the web. I haven't run out of sets to try on groovetech.com yet, though I have my favorites that I listen to occasionaly. Groovetech.com also has streaming video of the dj's mixing, so having a really cute dj spinning funky breaks is a nice perk(naha, requires realplayer or equiv)

Internet radio is nice to have in places where a stereo system would be overkill. It allows you to *gasp* multi-task!

Hell, Internet radio is the centerpiece of my stereo setup. I have a pretty decent sound card feeding my receiver. Occasionally I listen to a CD or record, but for the most part I stay tuned in to net radio stations. For example, I'm listening to Groovetech right now. Wish the sound quality was as good as CD though...

I do not at all agree. With dsl I use streaming all the time. I watch a "channel" on realplayer that includes video (Groovetech), love it. I went over to ifilm the other day and watched some great movies.

Streaming offers the "little people" in the world to broadcast their work very easily. They don't need a production company, and ad company, and pay for space on a retailers shelf.

Streaming audio is much like html. Its given the average user the chance to publish their work. Now as they once said, it needs to be ubitiqous, and a standard is what can make that a possibility.