How to use the Compare Page

TL;DR - watch the video to see the compare page in action, otherwise, for a deeper dive, read through the article.

Why the Compare page?

The Compare page isn't only a table for putting records side by side — it's a powerful tool for ensuring your next purchase of records work together, the way you imagined them to.

Everything that lights up on that page is about how a record sits next to its neighbour. Move a record and the answer changes. That makes it less like a spec comparison and more like laying records out on the floor in the order you'd play them, which is what I built it to do.

Getting records into it

Anywhere you see a record — search results, a genre page, a record's own page — there's a Compare button. Press it and the record drops into your compare tray, and the tray icon up in the header keeps the count.

A few things about the tray that aren't obvious:

• There's no limit. Put twenty records in it if you want to.
• It lasts fourteen days, whether or not you close the browser.
• It syncs across tabs. Add something in one and it turns up in the other.
• Anything already in your cart shows a tick instead of a button, so you can't accidentally buy it twice.

When you've got a few, open the tray and hit Compare these.

Order is the whole point

Each record is only checked against the record immediately to its left and the one immediately to its right. Not against everything in the crate. So a record can light up in third position and light up not at all in first, because it's sitting next to something different.

That's deliberate, because you don't play four records at once, you play them one after another, and the only transitions that matter are between neighbours. So the page answers the question you'll actually face at the decks: does this one work with the one before it, and the one after it?

Which is why you can drag them around. Grab a card, move it, and the whole thing recalculates, so you can shuffle until you get an idea, a vibe of the crate — it doesn't have to be concrete, it's just to inspire you on the potential of your next crate.

If you've read the circle of fifths post, this builds on that. You're walking a path around the wheel, and your items in the compare page are telling you where each step lands.

Reading the lights

Four things light up, and they don't all mean the same thing.

Keys light one at a time. A record with three keys on it might have one lit and two dark. The lit one is the key that works with something on the record next door. Compatible means the same key, its relative major or minor, or one step around the circle of fifths — the same rule the key wheel uses. Both run off the same piece of code, so they can't disagree with each other.

BPM range lights as a whole cell, and it's an exact match. That's on purpose. Once you start having to pitch, your keys are going to be affected.

Subgenre lights when a neighbour shares one — a visual indicator of your transitions between subgenres to add flavour and texture.

Tracks are where most of the useful information is, and they have three states rather than two.

Lit — the track title takes its key's colour. This track has a partner on a neighbouring record: compatible key and within three BPM. Both, not either.

Dimmed — checked, and nothing matched. That isn't a verdict on the track. It means it hasn't got a partner in this particular arrangement, which is often solved by moving something.

Neutral — there's nothing to check it against. Usually that just means there's only one record in the crate, so there's no neighbour to test it with. Add a second and the lights come on.

The three BPM either way at track level is the beatmatch window: a 128 and a 129 are a mix. The record-level BPM cell stays exact because it's answering a coarser question.

One thing to keep in mind, and it's the whole argument of the musical keys post: on vinyl the key moves with the pitch fader. A dimmed track isn't a no. It's telling you those two sit more than three BPM apart at their printed speeds, and closing that gap is a decision you might be perfectly happy to make, easily achievable in the mix.

The summary at the top

Above the cards there's a TL;DR on the whole crate rather than on neighbours: the BPM range from slowest track to fastest, the keys that turn up most often across everything, and the subgenre mix.

That's the shape of the crate at a glance. A narrow BPM range with two or three recurring keys is a coherent hour. A spread of 110 to 140 across four records is something with a lot more movement in it, which might be exactly what you're after — all part of the preparation phase, and it just might take you in a direction you haven't been before.

Sharing and comparing a crate with a friend

The URL carries the whole crate, in order. Copy it, send it, and your friends will see exactly what you see, arranged the way you arranged it.

Handy if you're putting a crate together with someone else, or if you just want to get back to a running order next week without leaving a tab open.

Quick add the crate to the cart

The summary has an add-all with the running total.

Add-all is a little smarter than it looks. Anything already in your cart gets skipped rather than duplicated, and anything sold out gets skipped too.

If you're taking more than one, buy them together. The discounts start at five records and climb from there, and it's one lot of shipping instead of several.

What it's for

It's about having fun, trying out your latest picks and seeing if you feel something, getting an idea of the relationships, and moving things around until it looks right. All before you've spent anything. This is how I've always wanted to shop, and hopefully it works for you too.

Lastly, go and listen. The ears are where it counts.

— JJ, Inklusv Records