Pioneer CDJs or: How I Learned to Stop Caring and Throw My Money Away

A week ago, Pioneer announced the CDJ-850, the latest and last of its refreshed product line to hit the market. According to the press release:

For semi-pro bedroom DJs and bars and completing the rekordbox™ enabled CDJ line-up, we today announce the new CDJ-850, available from August 2010 (suggested retail price: £799).

And this is what I liked about the CDJ-800 mk2 -- the model the 850 supersedes: (1) Ergonomics of big-club CDJ installations. (2) Basic, reliable controls. (3) Build quality second-to-none. (4) Affordable-ish prices for enthusiast amateurs. And now, much like the rest of the revamped CDJ series, the CDJ-850 offers USB support for flash- and hard-drive compatibility.

However, I don't know what part of "£799" screams "I'm affordable!" In fact, that price is much closer to the MSRP of the CDJ-1000 mk3 -- the previous Pioneer CDJ flagship -- and we're not even close to the top of Pioneer's CDJ range! Here we are presented with a cavalcade of doughy new choices: the CDJ-900 replacing the CDJ-1000 mk3, the CDJ-850 replacing the CDJ-800 mk2 (more expensively), the new CDJ-400 ($600), the CDJ-350 of questionable market share ($700), and the I-sprinkle-diamonds-on-my-food CDJ-2000 (as the name implies, $2000), intended for "the world's biggest clubs". None of these CDJs are as affordable as the CDJ-800 mk2, let alone the entry-level CDJ-200 (which I remember was around $300 US when I was in the market for equipment), and none of them have viable competition (the Numark CDJs are awkward and only offer 0.1% pitch accuracy).

So what's the deal? Pioneer is saturating the high-end CDJ market with products that differ very little in functionality and price, taking advantage of DJs that swear by the build quality (like me) and fanboys who, by buying anything and everything Pioneer, are turning the company into the new Monster Cable. Those $450 headphones you just bought? They might sound better after you take them out of your asshole.

But I digress.

Perhaps Pioneer realizes that their target audience is shifting to a bunch of scrubs, buying their equipment and making shitty music. Maybe they're trying to weed out the unworthy. But then we get DJ Pauly D rocking out on CDJ-2000s wearing his HDJ-2000s around his neck and cutting out the 10-12 kHz band on a Lady Gaga remix with the DJM-2000, not knowing how to count to 32 or what a perfect fifth is. No, I'm not fucking bitter, but there's something fishy about Pioneer's business practice of introducing a line of "improved" products that -- on average -- is as expensive as its previous flagship, and I'm having trouble putting it in words that don't involve other religions or races.

Anyway, happy mixing. I suppose I might cave in and spend one-third of my yearly salary on DJ equipment that will never get me anywhere, or I can buy the shittiest equipment I can get my hands on and play seven different tracks "featuring Pit Bull" and suddenly have a name for myself as a local supertalent. No, I'm not fucking bitter.