Need a little help on Station Playlist's Creator/Studio. I bought them both and set up the library over the weekend. Easy to build the rotations and the schedules in Creator... but getting them loaded into Studio is proving to be a head-scratcher. Don't know how to do it. Any advice? Or any links to youtube videos that might give me the quick answer? I know I'm missing something(s) obvious, so I'm hoping you'll forgive my "freshman question". Thanks!
My station uses "Zara Playlist" and "Winamp Playlist".
Does that count?
I have began the transition to random rotations, except for sequential shows such as my Old Time Radio programming at late night. I keep ZaraRadio installed on a separate laptop read for standby in case of failure on the primary or if I need to do maintenance. The ZaraRadio install has a fixed playlist.
I use random play most times when I'm not there, then switch to playlist and load up a list of special selections that sound a little more purposeful being played together, like a theme, or if I know it's something a listener might want to hear. If you turn someone on to your station, then you want to woo them with their favorites, sort of like PBS does with their most crowd pleasing shows, hee hee.
Carl, I keep having this problem with Zara Playlist. I have address this problem before but I don't think I got any help with it. Zara just whizzes right down the playlist without playing a single song. This happens with playlist I attempt to start. Please, how can I fix this?
Winamp...even if you don't stream with it, it's pretty useful as an automation system.
The temperature here today is 102-degrees Farehheit and I am hiding with my tiny air conditioner.
It is so puzzling that the problem you are having with Zara is something we cannot figure out.
I remember it well because we talked about it several times and several of the members gave their input but you still have the same problem!
The problem has been in my head ever since and I keep trying to think of some way we can fix it for you but the only advice we know is what we already said:
The playlist must show the exact and correct path to each audiofile or it will skip through just like you are experiencing.
Go up to the Zara Menu and click View. Then click Show Full Path.
Then very carefully make sure each line in the Playlist is exactly the right path to where the audiofile is.
If that does not solve the problem, I do not know anything else about it and am as confused along with you.
I've had this problem twice and at least for me, it willskip past any file in the playlist that is incompatible and the same is true of any stream types it can't play, like AAC.
Unrelated to that, when I have made major changes to the system this would happen. For this latter case, the fix was rebooting the server.
Carl's comments are right on the money. The times I've usually seen that kind of behavior is when Zara can't find the file that is specified in the playlist. Generally, that's because I've placed the files to be played on an external memory device (i.e., USB hard drive, USB stick, etc.) that has changed device letters for some reason (i.e., it changed from E: to F:).
I have also seen Zara skip files when Zara doesn't support its playback, such as FLAC (as Jim Henry states).
What version of Zara are you running, and on what O/S? Can you post a small piece of one of your playlists?
The only time Zara will skip files, 1st, the files have been moved or renamed after the playlist has been made, 2nd unsorported file types eg, aac, copy protected wma files, mp4.
WillyJ - there is another reason Zara will skip files, and that is if you have an outboard soundcard or audio interface that has become disconnected from the computer from some reason, such as it being unplugged or powered down. If Zara doesn't have an output sound device specified, it will skip down through the playlist, missing every single file, as you mentioned. It happens to me occasionally, because I have an external USB audio interface which is powered separately. If I forget to switch it on, then Zara happily skips all the files.
On a different subject, the original poster hasn't returned to this thread, but I think he was asking if anyone uses the software called Station Playlist. It would seem that no-one here is.
Forgot about that one, but normaly if the soundcard is missing Zara will just crash when it starts.
Aaaaah, my installation of Zara has never crashed. It just skips files when it cannot find a souncdcard. Totally understand that others mileage may vary.
If he would look at the log file for the day in question it may give some clues.
I had a problem with skipping files. Checking the log show the file path it tried to follow and failed. From that maybe he can see what's going on.
In my case there was a fantom file which showed up in the log, not in the playlist. When it tried to play it, Zara would crash. I simply deleted the playlist and re-established it.
Yes, checking the log is a good idea. If you're not sure where it is Willy, look in Tools, then Options, then Log, for info on where the log file is located. I don't remember the default location as I have changed mine.