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Is there a way to automate the loading of playlists (m3u)?
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Is there a way for the “new” playlist to not overwrite the existing playlist? What I mean by this is…when I load a playlist for the “next day” instead of adding it to the end of the current playlist it loads it starting with the “next” event thus bumping out the rest of today’s playlist.
Check out the Event Scheduler (opened through the “Event” button in the toolbar).
When setting up an event, you can choose among various actions, in particular there’s “Load playlist” and “Append playlist”. The former will replace the current content of the playlist with the one from the file (except the currently playing item), the latter will just append the list to the end.
The “Load playlist” action is also available in a “load and play” flavor which will fade out the currently playing item.
Are the playlist files created with an external software? When you want to automate the loading of daily playlist files, the best option is to name the files in a YYYYMMDD.m3u way and save them into a particular folder, say “c:\playlists”. Then, when setting up the action, go to the “Options” tab and check “Enable substitution of variables”. As the file name, enter “c:\playlists%Y%M%D.m3u”. mAirList will replace the % variables with the current date when executing the event, thus loading the correct file for the date.
One thing to keep in mind when using m3u playlists is that mAirList will regard all files as “new” when loading the playlist. In particular, it will perform Auto Cue for all files (unless there’s an MMD file for the audio file, or the audio file is registered in an attached mAirListDB database). This can take a long time, especially when loading a 24 hour playlist.
After all, using mAirListDB and its integrated playlist handling functions is the best option today. mAirListDB uses hourly playlists instead of daily playlists, but it’s possible to import and split daily m3u files.
I assume Cad will add some tips and hints. He’s the playlist automating expert among the native English speakers here
stupid question perhaps…
How to use the mAirListDB? How to add files/playlists, etc to it?
Is there a help file to this program somewhere? If so, I seem to be missing it.
Official documentation is currently being written. I will send you a preliminary copy by e-mail. mAirListDB is already covered.
Some more information about music scheduling in mAirListDB: http://forum.mairlist.com/index.php/topic,4601.0.html (not covered in the manual yet)
thanks
You’re welcome
Time to sleep for me now. At least try to. 1:07 am and still 25C/77F here. And no, German houses don’t have air conditioning.
:o IMHO, Charlie Davy is the expert when it comes to adding/automating/preparing playlists from music scheduling applications (e.g. SPC, Powergold, RCS, etc.).
Though yes, I’m arguably the ‘expert’ on automating playlists within mAirList/mAirListDB, using scripts, events, …
BFN
CAD
For now, Jay, the best place to look is on this Wiki page:
http://wiki.mairlist.com/index.php/mAirListDB_HowTo.
Although I’ve started documenting mAirListDB in the manual, that section isn’t finished yet; hence the Wiki page currently contains more complete information.
Note that to be able to use mAirListDB, you need to licence mAirList with a ‘paid-for’ licence (one of the 30-day demo Pro or Personal licences will do if you are evaluating mAirList).
BFN
CAD