Digitaljukebox

[ILOVERADIO2]

Looking for radio software to replace the Digitaljukebox. We pay for support but can never get the owner to return calls or email. We paid 600.00 for support for nothing. Time to move on.

 

[RadioMan203]

Sadly, you and many others have been burned with digital junkbox. You can search the threads on the boards here to learn of all those who have had "lifetime support" last days or weeks - unless you're an insect you will outlive his conception of "lifetime" support.

If you're looking for something on the economy side I would recommend StationPlaylist, which is what I used to replace the Digital Junkbox ... oops, Digital Jukebox. I wrote the StationPlaylist review for Radio World which may answer some questions.

If you're fixed with some money to spare I liked NexGen101 / Player101 or whatever they call it these days. At the time I didn't have the $1400 to spare. Both systems have their merits and in either case the support is light years better than what you would ever get from Mister Lifetime Support.

Good luck in your quest and the best of luck with your migration toward something much better than DJB.

 

[Bengalsfan]

Sorry you guys had to learn the hard way. One thing you count on in this business, you get what you pay for.

Of all the automation systems I have worked with, BSI's Simian is the one I like. You can buy the computer hardware on eBay for $400. Check out the website. www.bsiusa.com.

If you are really into doing it yourself, you might also want to check out the Rivendell Project. http://www.rivendellaudio.org/

Good luck with your search.

 

[techie2]

StationPlaylist works fine for LPFM. I would imagine it could do well enough in any relatively uncomplicated scenario, such as a small market station. I probably wouldn't use it in a situation involving a lot of network programming.

 

[chriscollins]

It would be helpful if you told us the circumstances... How many stations, features needed, etc...

 

[SRP]

StationPlaylist works fine for LPFM. I would imagine it could do well enough in any relatively uncomplicated scenario, such as a small market station. I probably wouldn't use it in a situation involving a lot of network programming.

Agreed. SP, SAM, ZaraRadio and others of that ilk are fine for Part 15s, internet radio and other "hobbyist" applications. However, they're unsuitable for "commercial" stations who need to insure their revenue stream (playing spots) is secure.

With nearly three decades of working with automation systems, here's my "top 5" "commercial station" automation system list:

1. Prophet/RCS (NexGen, NOT Master Control)
2. AudioVAULT
3. Enco
4. BSI Simian
5. WO/Google/Scott Studios

All five of these companies produce stable products and have solid technical support. And one of the five should have a product that meets your needs and your budget.

 

[test123]

Anybody using Rivendell? I have a client that may be looking in that direction...

t123

 

[RadioMan203]

Agreed. SP, SAM, ZaraRadio and others of that ilk are fine for Part 15s, internet radio and other "hobbyist" applications. However, they're unsuitable for "commercial" stations who need to insure their revenue stream (playing spots) is secure.

I personally know a few commercial stations using StationPlaylist thanks to me Radio World review. They love it for the money it's saved them and the user friendliness.

Out of the ones you listed I would only be comfortable with Prophet NexGen (since it's also NPR ContentDepot friendly) and Enco if you don't mind the learning curve. I've heard too many nightmares about BSI and AudioVault and I don't know what will happen if WO decides to get out of the automation biz, leaving the fomer Google system in limbo.

 

[Studio1]

Station Playlist has excellent tech support and there is no sign of them closing the doors. Ross has done many years on this
project and seems set for many more.
As Bill suggests, there are many commercial stations using the product, so it's no toy.
The UI isn't the greatest, but if you can overlook cosmetics, the engine is sound (excuse the pun).

 

[RadioMan203]

I personally know a few commercial stations using StationPlaylist thanks to me Radio World review.

When did I start to talk like a pirate? It should have been "thanks to my Radio World review" - I guess I shouldn't rush my posts ... or is that me posts! ;D

 

[radiovigilante]

I engineer for 2 FM's and 1 AM running Stationplaylist. I have never had a problem out of either of the systems. The AM has a format and Programming that was hard for a human to even handle and the computer with Stationplaylist runs it with total ease and NO missed commercials or programs. I also know of a station using Simian that is ready to switch to Stationplaylist. Want something ROCK Solid and dependable give Stationplaylist a try.

 

[ILOVERADIO2]

Thanks for the suggestions. I do contract work for several stations on the East Coast and most use Scott Studios. The low pwer ones can not afford the price tag so they use software like Digital Jukebox, Mixtime or some home brew stuff. We are looking into BSI and Wave station. Any feedback?

 

[ChiefEngineer]

One thing DJ does that no one else does is schedule music. Does station playlist do this also? While we are non com we love dj when it works. I won't go into issues. I will say when it works I like it better than Enco. Support is an issue with all systems but yes there are issues there.

 

[RadioMan203]

One thing DJ does that no one else does is schedule music. Does station playlist do this also?

StationPlaylist consists of two parts, SPStudio, which is the playout portion of the system, and SPCreator, which is the scheduler. Go back to the second message in the beginning of this thread and click the link for my Radio World article - it should answer some of your questions.

Also note the last line in my review.

 

[SRP]

You know, I KNEW the StationPlaylist fanboys would come out after I posted my list. Who can you call at 3AM (or even 3PM) when your StationPlaylist Studio system crashes and won't restart? No one. E-mail support only. 24 hours for a reply (according to their site).

Sorry, kids - that aspect along makes SP unacceptable for any "professional" station.

If you get 100 engineers together, each one will tell you one system is great and they'll have a horror story about one system or another. I've worked with hundreds of stations worldwide and worked with every system there is out there. None is perfect. The five I listed are the best out there today.

But don't take my word for it. Get a client list from each of those companies and call their customers - THAT opinion is MUCH more valuable than what you'll get here.

As for schedulers - you can get a free one (the former MusicGen Lite) that can do a better job of any one that comes "built in".

 

[ChiefEngineer]

Yes the problem therein..none are built in.

I am a customer of 1. Prophet/RCS (NexGen, NOT Master Control) 2. AudioVAULT 3. Enco
4. BSI Simian5. WO/Google/Scott Studios, and many more.

Liked ENCO but let's talk support. The reason we changed. Support is only as interested as your market size. Often the issue seemed to be "your stuff" not ours.

BSI Simian runs forever. No music scheduler built in.

 

[level42]

While we're on automation systems...anyone using the SMARTS System Skylla?

http://www.smartsbroadcast.com/skylla.html

Saw it at a station the other day...from the first glance and brief tour I got, I really liked it. The station was also very happy with it. They run a local music rotation, and a few satellite news/football feeds. They said the support was excellent and was REAL 24 hour support. Was just curious if anyone here was running it and how they felt about it. Most of my contract stations either use Nexgen or RDS Phantom, I have a few other systems (Simian, Tunetracker, Google, etc...), and while I really love the simplicity and reliability of the Phantom, it's starting to show it's age. Nexgen has been fairly solid also with decent support.

So...any Skylla thoughts?

 

[Bengalsfan]

Thanks for the suggestions. I do contract work for several stations on the East Coast and most use Scott Studios. The low pwer ones can not afford the price tag so they use software like Digital Jukebox, Mixtime or some home brew stuff. We are looking into BSI and Wave station. Any feedback?

I rate them high on my list for value. Not nearly as expensive as some of the others mentioned here, and they do the same thing. We use Natural Log and Natural Music to generate playlists and logs. I have four stations running them. Two on satellite, one live 24/7 and one live in AM and PM drive, voiced the rest of the time. They run great.

 

[ChiefOperator]

I just finished installing the German playout 'mAirList.' I've used and installed many of them, especially Simian and Player 101 (Baby Nexgen). mAirList is now my standard for smaller stations wishing to have a feature-rich, ROCK-SOLID playout system. And it should be rock-solid, given the developer has an actual Ph.D. in computer science.

Now that I've found this playout software, I will never again install Simian or Player 101. I truly believe mAirList is such a better system. The only downside is that mAirList does not yet have a voice-tracking module, which may be a deal breaker for some (it has a variant). I have a station that is looking at an iMediatouch system, but I'll be stearing them toward mAirList.

Unfortunately for us, this marvelous system has not quite become popular over here in the USA--but it will. Beyond its stability and features, it offers complete customization of the GUI. You can add as many players as you wish and even drag all the elements around to completely customize it to your liking. Many have designed their layout to mimic iMediatouch, Enco, Dalet, Scotts Studios and others. In addition, it has it's own database, which can be networked to other computers or even other databases, and it has it's own basic scheduler. For those who stream, I *believe* it has a 'container' function that will allow you to send one stopset to air and a different stopset to your encoder for ad substitution.

Have a look... BTW, don't be put off by the GUI design on its website, which is rather bland. If you want a nice playout, demo this software.

http://www.mairlist.com/en/pro/mairlist-professional.php

Finally, I have no affiliation with the company... I wish only to expose this hidden gem.

Best of luck

 

[RadioMan203]

You know, I KNEW the StationPlaylist fanboys would come out after I posted my list. Who can you call at 3AM (or even 3PM) when your StationPlaylist Studio system crashes and won't restart? No one. E-mail support only. 24 hours for a reply (according to their site).

Sorry, kids - that aspect along makes SP unacceptable for any "professional" station.

Ah yes, when somebody doesn't like something another says they accuse the person of being a fanboy. That's certainly an objective view ... NOT!

Do I like StationPlaylist? Sure, I think it's a great system at its price point and has decent support and features. I offered the suggestion of that system for a low-entry price point. For more money I suggested NexGen 101 (or Player101 or whatever the current version is called).

Granted, it's about 3 times more than StationPlaylist, which could strap some smaller stations but then again look at what the original poster was going from. Having worked with Digital Jukebox I had seen the shortcomings in support and like many of the other threads suggest, heard the nightmares of support (and more so after I wrote the www.rwonline.com/article/2398]Radio World review of the DOS-based Digital Jukebox[/url]). Considering the money many have thrown away of DJB "lifetime" support StationPlaylist is a bargain. Besides, any engineer with good IT skills shouldn't need help except for a catastrophic failure, and at that price point one could afford to have a backup computer ... and if they aren't backing up their data regularly they better seek a better action plan.

If these stations had the budget I'm sure they would look at the big players like Enco and Prophet's larger system instead of the lower end of the automation spectrum. I addressed my response as an engineer who has been in the biz almost 4 decades and have worked the gamut from the smallest of stations right up to the NYC market. Small market radio needs to make reasonable concessions to stay profitable and the smaller players in the automation game can be a help.

And by the way, I think the MusicGen Lite download from the site. I still have a copy somewhere archived but I'd have to go through and 10 backup hard drives to find where it lives.