Any software pros out there? I need some ideas
I am going to install my Part 15 AM and FM at my vacation home in the middle of a town of about 200 homes and should be able to hit about 75% of them. Problem is I am usually only there on the weekends. My plan is to rotate liners and music on MP3 files. So first I need some simple, and hopefully inexpensive software to rotate the MP3 files on a computer that will feed into the transmitter. Second, the power goes out fairly frequently in the winter, so I need a software program that will fire up the computer automatically when the power comes back on and restart the MP 3 rotating program too Any suggestions?
Since I like to use the old stuff, I might approach your question from a low-tech perspective.
First, the power outages mean you'll need some way to restart, and one easy way to do that is to use an older AT platform PC with the hardware based on/off switch. Leave the power switch in the 'on' position, and whenever the power comes back the PC will restart.
Next, you'll need some software that will start up and run when the PC powers up. A super easy way to do that is to use DOS as your operating system, and write and autoexec.bat file to load your player and playlist on start-up.
If you want to run a GUI, you could use WIN98, as it starts with a batch file, and you could also use the start menu option to load your player and playlist upon power-up.
An easy WIN player to use would be an older WinAmp, like ver 2.8 or 2.9, found on oldversion.com
For DOS, you could use MPX Play or Agis MP3 or Juke MP3
An older Soundblaster, ISA Pro or II will run under dos with no drivers, all you need is the SETBLASTER string.
Either way, load up your MP3s, your play list and your batch/start files, hit the hardware power switch, and walk away. The playlist will manage your content while the PC is on, and if the power goes out the pc will restart and start delivering content in about 30-90 seconds, depending on the pc.
I've been running a DOS based MIDI system on an old 233 AT and it's been running smoothly for two years and a dozen power outs.
There is more info in the library, here: http://www.part15.us/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=6
It's really not that difficult to make sure your station will automatically start up after a power failure. Most modern motherboards will have a setting in the BIOS which will allow you to resume the last power state of the computer. If power is lost while the computer was on, then it will power back up when power resumes. You'll want your scheduling / media player software to start up with Windows also.
Here's my setup:
ECS L7VMM3 mobo with everything built in (Sound,CPU, Video)
40gig HD
Winamp Radio Scheduler (WRS 2.06)
Winamp 2.95
Sound Solution 1.2 and Resumer plugins for Winamp
I have WRS in my start group and it in turn launches Winamp.
I've seen it recover from 2 power failures and it worked fine.
If you want a good [i:8fb4b5884b]free[/i:8fb4b5884b] automation, try looking at http://www.mixtime.com/ . This is a full featured program that's running a lot of Part-15 stations.
The automation can be set to restart when the program is started. So, if security is not a problem, then set up the automation computer to auto-logon. Then put a shortcut into the startup folder of the Start menu. That will auto-start the program on reboot.
Thank you all for the info. Very helpful!
Like FrankH19 said, DirEttore is great. It's loads better than OTS or SAM2. Oldies 95 WNNY is running it and it works just GREAT!