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MusicMaster Blog

Scheduling by Theme posted on October 10th, 2011

by Paul Ziino

Whether you want to schedule a bunch of “car” songs leading up to the Indy 500 or “patriotic” songs for Independence Day, Theme Scheduling can get the job done. Here’s how in 10 easy steps… (more…)

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Setting Up and Using the Chart Editor posted on October 3rd, 2011

By Drew Bennett

The Chart Editor is used to create an in-house music chart. This can be helpful when reporting your playlist, making music decisions or keeping general tabs on your library. (more…)

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Is it time for a “Reality Check”? Review Your Library! posted on September 26th, 2011

By Marianne Burkett

When was the last time you took a critical look at your database or databases?  You may be so busy at work, that the thought of a review seems like the last thing you’d like to do.  With MusicMaster there are some easy steps you can take to keep your data “honest”.  The truth has no agenda, but it certainly is revealing! (more…)

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View Category Rule List posted on September 19th, 2011

By Paul Ziino

We often are asked by customers to help them figure out why songs are scheduling that violate rules. Usually, the problem is that the rule being violated isn’t active for the category in question. How can we figure this out? The answer is “View Category Rule List”. (more…)

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THE VIRTUAL SHOW feature is here! posted on September 12th, 2011

By Marianne Burkett

What is a “Virtual Show”?  Here we’ll define it and give you some examples of how you might use it. (more…)

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MusicMaster/iTunes Integration posted on September 1st, 2011

By Aaron Taylor

Want to add your song data from iTunes straight into MusicMaster?  How about creating playlists that can then be played out via iTunes?  There’s got to be a way, right?  In this article, we’ll lay out the steps to do just that.

First off, you’ll want to get in touch with your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant to discuss your needs and plans.  They will assist you in reviewing your database(s) to identify whether additional fields will be needed to allow the integration to work.  Your MSC will also provide you with the needed files to add to your database, and your Music Master directory.

Synchronizing your iTunes music library with MusicMaster

Your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant will need to forward you our library synchronization.def for iTunes (we’ve already done most of the set up work on this for you).  We’ll likely need to schedule a call/GTM session with you to direct on configuring where the library file from iTunes will be sent, and where the field data from that program will be imported into MusicMaster.  That shouldn’t take more than five or ten minutes.

Once this is customized to your database, then you are ready to go into iTunes and export your library to MMWIN.  In iTunes, you will want to go to FILE-LIBRARY-EXPORT LIBRARY.

The library.XML will then appear in the directory you designate in the export path in iTunes.  Once that step is completed, you’ll then go to your MusicMaster database and run the library synchronization def.

When you run the synchronization, you will find the songs you imported from the iTunes library in the NEW category list (this category will be created for you automatically if it does not already exist).  From here, you’ll likely add the songs to their proper categories and get ready to schedule a playlist for export.

Exporting a scheduled playlist to iTunes for play out

Your Music Scheduling Consultant will also need to forward you our export XML template for iTunes, (again, we’ve done most of the work here already), and we’ll just need to align the fields in the template design to the available fields in your database.  If you’ve had prior experience adding in a “template” design we’ve provided to you in the past, this is the same procedure.  Of course, we are happy to assist in this process!  This is done via the MMExportDesignEditor.exe found in your c:\mmwin directory.

Next, we’ll assume here that you’ve already scheduled and edited a playlist; you wish to export to iTunes.

Now, you’ll want to go ahead and export the playlist you’ve created to a place that your iTunes can find it.  Export the playlist the same way you export currently…DATASET-SCHEDULE-EXPORT-EXPORT TO AUTOMATION.  Select your iTunes export this time, and you probably should double check the Export Path and Export Filename boxes at this time as well.

Once the file has been exported, go to your iTunes application and import the playlist.

And play when ready!

If you’d like more information on the set up of this functionality, or further assistance, please contact your Music Scheduling Consultant for assistance.

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Emergency Preparedness posted on August 1st, 2011

By Marianne Burkett

Severe weather effects most regions in the country and most countries in the world from time to time.  Lightning, flooding, torrential rains, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes or ice storms!  There’s also just regular power outages, rolling brownouts, hard-drive meltdowns, untimely network disconnections etc.  Are you prepared to “cut and run” with your stations database, your dongle and a copy of the MusicMaster software application safely tucked away in the event of an emergency?  Do you have a backup copy of your database?

A Short, Mostly True Story:

The rain was relentless and the rivers were spilling over their banks.  Homes were being engulfed in water all through the city.  The radio station, seemingly impervious to other bad weather situations in the past, was locked up for the weekend. The staff headed home to save their properties and help those in trouble.  Then, the unthinkable happened.  The river crested on Sunday and completely flooded the radio station.  Every desk, every computer, every laptop, the studios – EVERYTHING destroyed in the blink of an eye.

On Monday I received a call from the Program Director.  He explained what had happened.  I asked the simple question: Do you have a backup with you?  He did not have a backup, it was at the station.   He did however have an old laptop at his home, with an old backup stored on it.  It was a very old backup… five years old!  I explained what type of things would need to be done in MusicMaster, including Library Synchronization and rebuilding Categories, Clocks and Coding and… I worked with him on the project.  The Program Director also re-named old export files to recent dates, so something was on the air until his work was completed on the database.  The station was re-built and life is back to normal in the River City.

I certainly don’t mean to alarm you, but I would suggest doing a “Standard” backup to your hard drive, or server on a daily basis, in addition to performing a “Custom” flash drive backup on a daily basis.  Along with backing up the database – save a copy of the MusicMaster software application on a flash drive.  This way, in the event of an emergency, you can run the software and restore your backup onto your home computer or laptop and still generate logs.

Performing backups:

Tools/Backup/Perform a Standard Backup.  The backup file will be created and be stored to whatever location your MusicMaster icon is pointed to.  To find that, right click on your MusicMaster icon, go to Properties and look at the path.  In the example below you’ll see my icon is pointed to N:\MMdata

Performing a Custom Backup

It’s as simple as performing a Standard Backup!  You’ll need to create the backup profile before you can perform the Custom Backup.  First, you’ll need to find out what letter your flash drive is.  Plug in your flash drive, go to “My Computer” or “Computer” and take a look at what drive letter is assigned to the flash drive.  In the example below, my flash drive letter happens to be “E”.  Then, go to Tools/Backup “Create.”

Under Additional Files, consider adding in any files you need for reconciliation or traffic processes (the .DEF files).  These will then be included in your backup for safekeeping.

Click OK and you’ll be all set to perform a Custom Backup every single day.

You can create multiple Custom backup profiles as well.

Another safety net is to email yourself a backup on a daily basis.   Cyber-space is a wonderful thing.

I’ve also discovered the joys of using a free service called Dropbox, to store my backup in “the cloud” (more information in this post).

You may think I’m a bit paranoid in doing all these backups every single day I do work in MusicMaster.  So what?  I’d rather be a bit paranoid and careful, than lose even one day of work to some kind of natural or unnatural disaster.

Another thing of not is that you can access all versions of the MusicMaster software application from our support center.

Of course, if you have any questions at all – feel free to contact your Music Scheduling Consultant.  We are always here to help.

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