The library contains all the music that you have added to Serato DJ Lite. By using browse and search you can easily narrow down your selection to nd the track you want.

TIP: You can change the size of your library text by using the keyboard shortcuts control and + and control and -.

Mouse and Keyboard Navigation

You can use the cursor keys and mouse to navigate the library. The cursor keys work as up, down, forward and back.

Hardware Navigation
You can use the hardware controls to navigate the library.

Searching

 

Serato DJ Lite includes a search function to help you find tracks quickly and easily. Just enter text into the search box and Serato DJ Lite will automatically find as you type.

TIP: Use the keyboard shortcut control + F to jump to the search box. This keyboard shortcut will also take you out of any crate or playlist that you might be in and into your main library, so you can find any track in your collection. If you then click on a crate or playlist, the search query will be cleared. To select which fields the search function will look through, click on the left-hand side of the search box. The drop-down menu shows which fields are currently being used. Press escape or the X button on the right of the search box to clear the search.

Library Status Icons

 

Serato DJ Lite has detected some corruption in the file. It is possible this file may not play correctly, and/or make your library unstable. If possible, re-encode the MP3 or remove from the library.
SEE CORRUPT FILE DIAGNOSES FOR MORE INFORMATION

The track cannot be found and will appear yellow in the library. Most likely the file has been renamed or moved location since it was first used in Serato DJ Lite.
SEE RELOCATE LOST FILES FOR MORE INFORMATION

The track has been imported from the iTunes library.

SEE SHOWING YOUR ITUNES LIBRARY

 

The track has been imported from iTunes but is corrupt.

SEE CORRUPT FILE DIAGNOSES FOR MORE INFORMATION

 

The file type is unsupported or does not meet the specifications for supported files

SEE SUPPORTED FILE TYPES FOR MORE INFORMATION

The track has been imported from iTunes, but the file cannot be found.

SEE SHOWING YOUR ITUNES LIBRARY

The track is locked.

SEE LOCK TRACKS FOR MORE INFORMATION

The track’s BPM and Beatgrid is locked.

SEE LOCK BPM FOR MORE INFORMATION

Prepare

The prepare window is an area for holding tracks, much like preparing a set by lifting records partially out of your record bag. Click the prepare button in Serato DJ Lite to open the prepare panel.

Navigate through your library with the keyboard and use the mouse to drag tracks or crates into the prepare window or onto the prepare window.

These tracks will be removed from the prepare panel once they have been played. If you decided that you didn’t want to play the track after previewing it, you can use control + Z to eject the track and put it back into the prepare crate. All tracks in the prepare panel will be discarded when you exit Serato DJ Lite.

TIP: Use the keyboard shortcut control + P to add tracks to the prepare window.

TIP: Select the contents of the Prepare window, drag them onto the new crate button

to save the selection.

Organizing Your Library

Serato DJ Lite can support an unlimited number of tracks, the only limitations are the specifications of your computer. Having extra memory and a faster CPU can help cope with larger libraries.

A number of features are included to help you to keep your music organized and nd tracks quickly and easily.

Serato Software Compatibility

Serato DJ Lite uses the same library as all other Serato software. If you are an existing Serato software user all your music, Loops and Cue Points will be available in Serato DJ Lite. If you create a library in Serato DJ and then install Serato ITCH or Scratch Live the music Loops and Cue Points from Serato DJ will automatically be available in Serato ITCH and Scratch Live. Any changes made in either program will be written to the library so if you have existing Loops and Cue Points, be aware of this when moving between systems.

Crates

Serato DJ Lite uses digital crates for quick access to your favorite collections. There is no limit to the number of crates you can create, and any given track can be placed in multiple crates. The crate area is on the left-hand side of the library.

For example, you could organize your tracks into the following crates, where anyone track would be led in more than one crate.

• Hip Hop
• French Hip Hop
• UK Hip Hop
• Instrumental Hip Hop
• Old School Hip Hop
• Hip Hop LPs

To make a new crate, click the  button. To rename a crate, double-click the crate name. You can change the order of tracks within a crate by dragging them up or down.

You can drag and drop crates into other crates to make subcrates. If you drag a crate to the very left of the crate panel, it will stay in the top level of the crate structure. If you drag the crate a little to the right, onto the name of another crate, it will make the crate you are dragging a sub crate of this crate.

Subcrates can be opened and collapsed, allowing you to have a large number of crates whilst making them easy to browse.

Copying and Managing Files

Serato DJ Lite gives you the ability to copy and move files or folders between drives or to a new location on the same drive.

To copy or move your files and/or folders, open the Files panel and select, drag and drop them in the desired new location.

Serato DJ Lite will then prompt you with the following options:

 

Copy: Select this to make a copy of the selected files and folders in the new location. Your Serato library will now contain entries for both the originals and copies.

Move: Select this to move the selected files and/or folders to the new location. Your Serato library and crates will now reference the files in their new location.

Cancel: Cancel any changes.

Remove original references from Library: Check this option when using the copy feature to remove the original references to these files in your Serato library and replace them with the copies in the new location. The original files will still be kept in their current location, but will no longer be referenced in your Serato library.

Copying and Moving Crates

You can also copy or move your Crates and Subcrates to another drive in the same way. Open the Files panel and select, drag and drop your Crates or Subcrates to the new drive. You will be presented with the same options as mentioned above.

Editing ID3 Tags

Much of the information associated with each track can be edited from within Serato DJ Lite. Double click on the eld within the main library to edit it. Filename, length, size, bit rate and sampling cannot be edited, this information is saved in the file itself.

TIP: Use the keyboard shortcut control + E to edit text. Hold down the control key and move with the arrow keys to change to a different eld while staying in edit mode. When you have more than one track selected, editing tags changes all the tracks in your selection.

NOTE: Tracks that are read-only have a locked icon.

Setting up Columns
The track information display area can be customized to display any of the columns listed below.

• Added
• Album
• Artist
• Bit rate
• BPM
• Comment
• Composer
• Filename
• Genre
• Grouping
• Label
• Length
• Location
• Remixer
• Sampling Rate
• Size
• Track
• Year

Clicking on the triangle at the top right of the library (under the search function) as well as right clicking on the header of any library column, will show the list so you can turn fields on and off. You can re-size columns by grabbing the edge and dragging to the width you want.
You can click on any columns to sort by that column, and you can also assign a secondary sort column. Holding CTRL (CMD on OSX) on your keyboard, and clicking on the second column will assign the secondary column. Clicking a second time on a primary or secondary column will change between an ascending and descending sort.

Holding CTRL + SHIFT while clicking on the secondary column will disable it.

Library Auto Back-up

Serato DJ Lite will create a folder on your hard disk called Serato where it stores your library database, crate information and other information. The Serato folder is located in the My Music folder on Windows and in the Music folder on Mac. Serato DJ Lite will also create a Serato folder on any external drive that you have added files from into the library.

When you first exit Serato DJ Lite you will be prompted to backup your library. This creates a copy of the Serato folder on your system drive and on any connected external drives containing a Serato folder. The backup folder is called “Serato_Backup.” After the initial backup, you will be prompted to back up again if the last backup on that drive is older than a week or if no backup exists. Serato DJ Lite will only keep ONE backup at a time, so each time you backup Serato DJ Lite will overwrite the previous backup.

NOTE: If you have had an early version of Serato ITCH or Scratch Live installed on the computer the library folder might be called ‘ScratchLIVE’, not ‘_Serato_’. Some users may have both folders.

Rescan ID3 Tags

The Rescan ID3 tags button is found in the Files panel and re-reads file tags for the entire library. Use this function if you have edited or modified file tags in other software.
TIP: Rescanning the tags is a handy way to identify any files that can’t be found, for example, if the files have been renamed or moved. These tracks are then shown as red in the library panel, with a question mark icon in the status column.

Relocate Lost Files

 

The Relocate Lost Files button is located in the files panel. If you’ve moved the location of files which are already in your library, they will show up as not found and be displayed in red. Drag and drop a folder from Finder (Mac) or Explorer (Windows) onto the Relocate Lost Files button to search it, and any subfolders, for files currently marked as not found in your library. Doing this will update the database with their new location.

NOTE: Clicking the Relocate Lost Files button will search through all attached drives for missing files but may take a very long time depending on the size of Serato DJ Lite library and complexity of hard drive file organization.