MusicMaster Blog

by Paul Ziino

When's the last time you made a backup of your MusicMaster database? If it's been a while, make today the day you start doing so every day. Making a backup is as easy as going to Tools/Backup and clicking Perform a Standard Backup. This creates a zip file of your database and leaves it in the same folder as your database (.mmd) file. You can also make custom backups that can include additional files or be saved in alternate locations. Learn all about making backups at http://www.musicmaster.com/?p=43.

By Aaron Taylor

AutoComplete is a feature in MusicMaster that will finish fields as you type. This is available for Keyword and Text type fields. There is a two step process to activating this for field(s). First, you must activate this feature in the appropriate fields under the Dataset, Library, Fields screen. To do this, highlight the field and when the details box comes upon the right-hand side, adjust the AutoComplete line to say “Yes.”

Second, you need to activate the feature on the Library Maintenance toolbar. Look for the icon that says "AUTO" in a black/white box. Click that icon to activate/deactivate.When you type in a field with this feature activated, the field will complete with the first match available. The more you type in the field, the more you narrow the choices. If you backspace in the field, you will disable the feature. The feature will be re-enabled if you press [Home], [End] or after typing at least two characters.

By Aaron Taylor

Did you know that MusicMaster has available on our website over THIRTY HOURS of in depth instruction on many areas of the application? There is something here for every user level, and area of interest.

Check them out anytime from this link:
http://www.musicmaster.com/training/

Enjoy!

By Marianne Burkett

Today’s blog focus is about dealing with One Hit Wonders scheduling more often than your core artist songs. (más…)

by Paul Ziino

When you are in the replacement window of the schedule editor you have three display options: Show all available songs, Hide Unbreakable failures, and Show only perfect songs…these are noted by the flag icons. When in “Hide Unbreakable” or “Show only perfect” mode, by default MusicMaster will display the ten most-rested songs that meet those criteria. If more than ten are available, you’ll see the “+ More” button which will give you an additional ten songs that meet the criteria each time you click “+ More”, until all songs are displayed. But did you know you can change how many songs will be displayed to start with, and how many more will be displayed with each click of “+ More”? (más…)

by Drew Bennett

Let’s say your automation system puts all of your songs in the same category and you have to add that category name to every song you enter into your database. Did you know that you can set the default value for that field so you don’t have to type in that information when you add a new song? Go to Dataset, Library, Fields. Locate the field to which you want to add the default value and click on it. In the properties column on the right, locate the Default Value field and add in the default value in the space to the right. Click OK. You’re done! You’ll never have to fill that field again. MusicMaster does it for you. Happy Scheduling!

By Drew Bennett

Category groups are exactly what they sounds like; groups of categories in your database. To make a category group, go to Dataset, Library, Categories. When the Category Editor shows, choose the Groups button on the right hand side of the screen. Choose New to create a new group and give the group a name. Hit OK. Now put a check mark next to any category you want to include in this group and then choose OK again. You’ve successfully created a category group. Now you’ll find this group at the bottom of your category list in the info bar and you can use it for other things as well. Try using groups to schedule pass orders so you don’t have to check on and off categories as you schedule multiple passes. Try using it in the Query box to search through those grouped categories only. Happy scheduling!

Here is a handy daily “report card” for your MusicMaster database.

The Recap Report is a graphic display of how the program did in relation to the rules that you have set up.

There are three types of Recap Reports you can view: Rule Stats, Goal Stats and Category Stats.

Here is a brief description of each:

Rule Stats
This display gives you detailed information on each rule that was tested.

Goal Stats
This report is activated when you use Optimum Goal Scheduling. You can sort by any of the column headers that you have.

When using Optimum Goals Scheduling, you’ll see one entry for each category where that Goal is used.

Category Stats
This graph gives you information on how far into the search depth the scheduler had to go to find the songs it scheduled

There are other options to view the Thinking file, Print the Recap Report, or Copy it to a clip board or Word document (as an example).

You can view this report immediately after a scheduling run via DATASET-SCHEDULE-RECAP REPORT. You can also make this report open each time following an Automatic Scheduling run by selecting RUN RECAP REPORT AFTER SCHEDULING on the OPTIONS tab of the Automatic Scheduler.

by Paul Ziino

Want to know who is logged into your database? Go to Tools/User List. This will indicate every open connection to the database. You may be surprised–sometimes people login and forget to logout, and this will prevent you from making a successful backup!

By Drew Bennett

Let’s say you work for a cluster of radio stations that focus on similar formats. For instance, you might have an oldies station and a classic rock station in the same building and those two stations might share a few songs or artists between them. MusicMaster offers a feature that allows you to test over multiple databases, ensuring that you don’t play the same song or even the same artists on both stations at once. Cool! Here’s how to set it up: (más…)