The history of DJing could be argued to go as far back as the early 1900s with the simple editing of sound tracks that were being played over the airwaves.

Around the late '60s and early '70s, DJing started to become more and more popular within the disco era, and has continued to survive among amateurs and professional sound mixers alike. According to the book "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life," by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton, DJing keeps a New York City club economy of $3 billion annually, still booming.

As the technological revolution continues, more and more people are finding turntables as a new way to express themselves musically. Even the BBC has a Web site on "How to get into DJing."

Sam Magid, economics senior, first got into it when he was 16, and he bought his first turn tables with the money he saved from his bar mitzvah.

"I had a friend who showed me how to do it," Magid said. "I thought that it seemed like a mystifying process, but it's really simple. I think DJs take advantage of the fact that people think it's so much harder than it is."

The Internet, in part, has contributed to the change of what once started out as an urban art form to being globalized and accessible to almost anyone.

"Back in the day, it was all word of mouth and you didn't have Myspace to tell you to listen to a certain band," said local Oklahoma DJ Bryan "B" Peace.

"You still have to be musically inept and have an ear for it," Peace said, "You can teach someone and they can teach themselves, but it takes some skill to know the timing of it all."

There still remains the question of whether DJs decide to stick to the vinyl-analog roots or switch to the digital age of DJing. According to the BBC, most DJs prefer vinyl but are switching to digital because of the availability of songs.

Both clearly have their separate benefits.

"Vinyl is better because you can feel it better and something as small as being able to see how the song changes by the grooves can help with the changing of the songs," Magid said. "There is a whole kind of culture that comes from collecting vinyl and there is also 'warmth' you loose when it changes to digital. Although, using digital you have more access to more different songs that are never pressed onto vinyl."

Then it just comes down to the fact that vinyl can be a hassle.

"CDs are a lot less weight to carry round and vinyl has a limited selection. They have their different benefits," Peace said.

What makes a good DJ is ultimately up to the crowd they are playing for.

"A lot of DJs just play for other DJs and try to make a lot of clever spins that would make other DJs impressed, but usually other people don't care," Magid said. "It's important to not lose track of who you're playing for. You could play 'Last Night' by Tom Petty and then turn it to 'Last Night' by The Strokes and yeah, that's clever, but nobody wants to dance to that."

"Technically you can be a good DJ if you pick songs that go well together and get them on beat and not mess up the timing," Peace said. "But what makes a better DJ is someone who plays to the audience and doesn't just play what they want to hear. I hate when I'm at a club and they only play two songs worth dancing to."

DJing remains a progressive form of music that uses technology to compile previously recorded tracks.

"I think it's important and an artistic expression, but I don't think it compares to composing music," Magid said. "At its best though, it's just artistic and expressive as any other art forms, but it also has its lows, such as a guy just pressing play and hopping around like he is actually doing something, but he isn't."
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