Had the misfortune to attend a Soul Night last year that had been organised by someone who will remain nameless. Great venue, and a couple of good local DJs had been roped in by DJ Nameless. After getting a drink at the bar, the alarm bells went off as soon as I walked into the main hall, and was greeted by a large projector screen above the stage. Nameless had been busy with Microsoft Powerpoint, and had produced his own little "Northern Soul Montage" slideshow. Two laptops were set up beside the decks, and Nameless was having it large up on the stage, while his "playlist" of MP3s entertained a mixed crowd of Disco Divas, piss heads and curious locals. Unfortunately I had a full pint, otherwise I would have been out of there a lot sooner. Just to capture this wonderful evening, two old blokes with professional video cameras were strolling around the piles of handbags amassed on the dance floor. They'd probably worked with DJ Nameless on the local party circuit.
This, more than anything, illustrates the danger of allowing MP3s and CDs to be played on the scene. It opens the doors to any chancer who fancies himself as a Northern Soul DJ. They should be called Hard Disk Jockeys, in order to differentiate between those who have put the time, effort and money into collecting the vinyl, and those just trying to cash in on the recent growing interest in the scene.