IPods Act as D.J.'s

"Once a month or so, someone will be taken aback that you have to use our iPods," said one of the Andrews in a telephone interview. "But APT has a really strong musical identity, and we want to make sure there is a certain type of music playing."

The rise of iPod DJ'ing has been reported on previously, most notably in an article in Wired magazine. While the iPod offers a great deal of potential as a DJ tool, its use is currently significantly limited by the performance tools available.

DJs now do much more than select tunes and play them. A good DJ will create a continuous mix of music that takes listeners on a psychological journey. This can involve mixing multiple tracks together, filtering elements and recombining pieces from multiple sources.

Until tools that let DJs creatively mix and program music become available for use with the iPods, DJing with an iPod will impose limitations that most DJs won't accept.