Basic version is also available with optional production bundle for scheduling and logging
Server
The Server stores your prerecorded, compressed audio content and feeds it to listeners who tune into your station over the Internet.
Client (OnAir Studio)
The OnAir Studio "Client" is your control panel and your workstation. This is where you create your Playlists, add new Items (songs, clips and other prerecorded material), compress material down to internet speeds, and transfer Items to be saved on the Server. It is also your programming workstation, where you schedule your programs for automatic play. The Client also functions as your Jock-friendly console where you go Live on the air and control the Playlists manually. You may wish to separate various functions among multiple Mac Client machines in order to fit your individual work flow (Pro/ProPlus only).
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Server (Pro/ProPlus only):
Pentium II 200 MHz or better; 500 MB RAM; 6 GB hard disk, Ethernet I/O, Running Red Hat 8 or later.
Client (Pro/ProPlus only) or Entire System (Basic/Production Bundle):
Apple Macintosh G3, G4 or G5; Mac OS 10.1.5 or later; 256 MB RAM. QuickTime 6 or later version.
Recommended System: Dual G4 or G5, 700 MHz, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB storage, Mac OS 10.2, QuickTime 6.
Connections
Client-Server connection via TCP/IP.
Server should be connected to Internet via DSL or faster.
Static IP Address:
Your Server needs a static IP address in order for your unicast listeners to find and tune to your station. Examples include business class DSL, T1 connections and servers co-located at your Internet hosting service. In many cases, residential cable modems and DHCP DSL connections will have problems or be restricted from streaming onto the Internet.
(Basic or Basic with Production Bundle)
The installation of Backbone Radio Basic is a one-step process. It requires a installation of software on a Macintosh computer system, running Mac OS X, perferrably 10.1.5 or higher. The Backbone Internet Radio folder can be installed into your Applications folder if you are authorized as a Systems Administrator, or in your User Documents directory if you are not.
Important:
Install MacOS X Client Software
The MacOS system should be running MacOS X 10.1.5 or higher. A power PC G3 or G4 is required. The MacOS X installer installs both a carbonized Backbone Radio Client (control system) and an OS X compatible Server. The "station operator" Client must control the server from the same MacOS X machine as the Server under the Backbone Radio Basic versions.
To begin the installation, insert the Install CD-ROM in the desired MacOS client system. To run the Macintosh installer, double click the icon "Internet Backbone Radio" in the top level of the CD-ROM directory. Follow the installation instructions as presented.
The installation will create a "Backbone" directory in the User's "Preferences: " directory, a "Backbone" directory in the user's "Library:Application Support" directory and a "Backbone Internet Radio" directory on the volume selected for installation.
Install Apple QuickTime Pro
If not already installed, Install QuickTime Pro, provided on the QuickTime CD in this package under license from Apple Computer, Inc.. Double click on the Install QuickTime icon. You will need a registration key to unlock the advanced features of QuickTime Pro. This will be provided to you when you register your Backbone Internet Radio with Backbone Networks Corporation.
Install SQL Database on your Mac (Production Bundle only)
This is a multistep process which creates a new OS X user used solely for your database. Follow the directions given in each step.
(Pro/ProPlus only)
Pro versions require the two-step installation of software on (1) a MacOS X computer system and (2) a RedHat Intel Linux system. To operate the product, the server must be initially started on Linux, and the "station operator" must control the server from a MacOS machine located anywhere on a network, including the Internet, that can "see" the server system.
Install Linux Server Software (Pro/ProPlus only)
Backbone Internet Radio currently runs on Intel RedHat Linux version 6.0 and above, on PowerPC with LinuxPPC or Yellow Dog Linux. To begin the installation of the Server portion of Backbone Internet Radio on Linux, insert the CD-ROM in the desired host system. The installation and operation of the Backbone Internet Radio Server must be performed at the root user, since the Server uses the RTP and RTSP protocols, which require the use of privileged network ports.
From the mount point of the install CD-ROM, run the command:
Firewalls
In order for the Backbone Radio server to be accessible from the internet, open the following ports in the system's firewall (if a firewall exists on your system):
Important Note: Backbone Radio is not interoperable with the Quicktime Streaming server®. If the Quicktime Streaming server is operational on your system, it must be disabled to eliminate contention for the same network access ports.
The server will now operate independently, until the Linux system is shut down. The server consumes very little CPU horsepower under light loads, and can be left running with minimal interference to other system processes.
Register Your Server's Domain Name
Your listeners will be able to tune in by logging into your Server via your unique domain name. You will need to have distinct IP addresses for both your Client and Server devices. You may register a domain name with Network Solutions or other registration authority. During this process you will denote your Server's IP address as the home for your new domain name.
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When you open your ONAirStudio application, a warning message appears. An alphanumeric Code is provided to you on that message. You will later need to enter this Code in your Registration form. Write down the Code and close the application.
Your Default Playlist Appears
On your Mac Client desktop, double click the Backbone Internet Radio icon. If everything is set up properly and connected, and if your Server is broadcasting, your Client will automatically connect to your Server. A Default Playlist should appear on your screen. This Playlist consists of two short Items, courtesy of Valentino Production Music and Sound Effects at <http://www.tvmusic.com>. Your Studio Monitor should automatically begin playing this Playlist for you. The Default Playlist will come up whenever you restart your Server. You may later change the content of your Default Playlist.
Purpose of the Playlist
The Playlist is your primary control mechanism for arranging the playing order of streaming audio "items". It is also the mechanism for compressing and saving new material to the "Item Database", located on your Server machine. You may wish to have several Playlists scheduled to play by the master "Schedule". See "Touring the Playlist Window".
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Station Name
Give your station a name. Your choice.
Broadcast Server Address
Fill in the IP address or name server address (e.g., mystation.com) where your Server is located.
In Basic version, this will normally be automatically filled in upon initial startup, although you may have to fill in the IP address of your computer.
Station Description
Tell what kind of station this.
Copyright Info
If this is copyrighted material, state your copyright information here.
Default Clickable URL
Enter the default URL of your station. This is the location your listeners' web browsers will go to when they click on the text annotation box that displays when you are LIVE or when your clips do not contain a different URL in their annotation preferences.
Connect to Server (Pro/ProPlus only)
You may want multiple Clients simultaneously accessing the Server, each performing a different function. One may be the On-Air Studio, which has all access and can perform all scheduling and Live functions. This is the default mode for a single-Client operation. Alternative Client interfaces include:
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Streaming Bit Rate
Because some of your listeners will be connecting from dial up connections in their homes, we recommend that you compress stored items to limit item bandwidth to 56 kbps. The quality levels shown will affect the streaming bit rate within the range of rates. For instance, an audio item compressed at high quality may stream at 40 kbps, whereas the same item compressed at low quality may stream at 36 kbps. Greater compression will slow down the compression process.
Compress for Live
To get the best real time sound compression for your Live broadcast, select whether your Live material will primarily be spoken voice or stereo music.
Input Source for Live Feed is:
Choose what type of input you will use for your Live broadcast. This tells your Mac Client machine where to find your audio for live broadcast. You may select internal microphone, if available, external microphone or audio source, or even your Mac's CD player.
Advanced Settings (Compression)
While we have already provided several groups of commonly used settings, advanced users may find alternative settings for QuickTime video and audio in this preference. Please refer to the QuickTime manual for more information. Note that you must select Hinting for streaming if your material is not already pre-hinted.
Multicast Broadcast Preferences
These settings are set by default by Backbone Internet Radio, and define information needed for the internal network of the Server. While you probably will not need to change them, they are modifiable by the user in the unlikely event of a network conflict.
Maximum Connected Users
In unicast mode, this is the maximum allowable number of listeners on your station at any given time. This is limited by the version and level of the program you purchased. A lower practical limit may be imposed by the bandwidth of your Internet connection.
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Remote Server Control (Pro/ProPlus only)
Enter password to log into server as Client
Scheduled Playlists Start
Select whether a new Playlist abruptly interrupts a previous Playlist when the scheduled time to start the new Playlist occurs. If Cleanly is selected, the current playing item will finish before the new Playlist starts. Cleanly is the default selection.
Time Display
Select UTC (24-hour clock) or Local Time Zone (12-hour clock) for new Playlists.
Your Backbone Internet Radio Client is set up to make your work flow easy and recognizable. This is the control panel for your Server and your entire radio station. On the top of the window are displays and indicators. On the bottom of the window are the controls. In the middle is the list of Items to be played.
ON AIR Indicator
Illuminates when the Playlist is connected to the Server and playing on the air.
LIVE Indicator
Illuminates when your microphone is live and on the air. This will happen when the Microphone button is pressed or when a scheduled live text item has occurred in the Playlist.
Connected To
Displays the IP or name server address of the Server to which your Client is connected.
Clock
Displays the current time from your Client computer. May be reset in Date and Time Control Panel. Button to the right of the clock allows display in 12-hour or 24-hour format.
Countdown Clock
Displays the time remaining of the currently playing Item. In the case of cross-fade, displays the time remaining of the Item that was playing first.
Duration
Displays the total time and number of Items in the Playlist.
Delete Item Button
Button deletes selected Item from Playlist. Save Playlist to make deletion permanent.
Add Item Button
Button adds Item to Playlist via browse window. Save Playlist to make addition permanent.
Rotation Button
Use this button to automatically add a rules-generated item from the Database, to be inserted after the Playlist item you have selected. Select the type of item you want to add, and the software goes into the Database and selects a pre-recorded item to fit your criteria. Rotation selection criteria take into account the items that already exist in the playlist. The default rule set provided is the RIAA Sound Recording Performance Complement. See http://www.riaa.com/issues/licensing/webcasting_faq.asp#conditions
STOP Button
Pressing button stops Playlist after currently playing Item is finished.
PLAY Button
Plays selected Item next. Play button is also a convenient mechanism for switching Playlists manually.
INPUT Button
Defines your Live audio input source, including Internal and External Microphone.
Audio Device Button
Defines the type of device you are using for your Live sound input.
ADD TO SCHEDULE Button
Adds this Playlist to list of master Schedule of Playlists.
LIVE (microphone) Button
Pressing once manually switches broadcast to Live mode after the currently playing Item is finished. 
Pressing small (urgent) button to the left of the Microphone button causes the broadcast to go Live immediately and abruptly interrupting currently playing Item. To go back to the Playlist, press Microphone button again.
MIC GAIN Button
Click to display gain slider which enables you to increase or decrease loudness of the Live microphone input. Click again to hide the gain slider.
REC Button
Click before pressing the LIVE (mic) button, and your next live segment is recorded to disk. When you exit live mode by pressing the mic button, the recording stops and your live item is automatically stored in a separate Live Recordings playlist, with a time stamp for an item name. (Save the Live Recordings playlist to save the items to the Database. You may edit these items in QuickTime.) When using this feature in an off-air playlist, you can use the REC button to record items associated with particular clips (targeted voice placement).
PREV ITEM Button
Click to play the previous sequential Item in the Playlist next.
NEXT ITEM Button
Click to play the next sequential Item in the Playlist next.
PROGRAM Tab on Playlist
This view of the Playlist gives a broader view (shown above) for programming and scheduling purposes. Shows Item name, artist, time remaining, status, Item duration, time to air and intro/outro times. Select 12-hour or 24-hour time to air, and change time remaining to time elapsed.
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ON-AIR Tab on Playlist
This view of the Playlist gives a magnified, limited view for operational (jock) purposes. Shows only Item name, artist, time remaining and status.
Studio Monitor
For a real time studio experience, the Studio Monitor streams the sound to your Client as the audio Items are changing, not delayed the typical eight seconds that the Internet listeners will hear. That means your ears and eyes are right in sync with the broadcast.
The small Studio Monitor window will start up in the upper left corner of your Client's desktop as you open the application. If you need to reopen it, select Studio Monitor under the Broadcast Server menu. This QuickTime player has its own volume control. Important: Set QuickTime streaming transport to "Use HTTP Port ID: 80. This can be found under the QuickTime Preferences in the QuickTime player application.
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On your Client Macintosh with the Backbone Internet Radio application open, you create your first Playlist by going into the File menu and selecting New.
New Playlist Dialog
A window, entitled New Playlist Dialog, will open, directing you to name your new Playlist. This is also an opportunity to customize the parameters of this Playlist differently than those you provided in the Preferences dialog window.
Intro/Outro Times and Cross-FadesNote: Since cross-fading is accomplished by generating a separate audio stream, the blend will have two or more streams playing at the same time, and so the bandwidth will increase accordingly. Two streams playing at a 28.8 kbps rate will now require a 56 kbps capability on the part of the listener, which may be beyond the speed of some of your listeners' modems. In such a case your listener may hear some degree of breaking up during transitions. Butt-to-butt (zero Intro/Outro) programming will play only one stream at a time and will not have this potential limitation.Setting the Default In/Out Item
Compression for Listening to:
Select the primary type of prerecorded audio compression you will be using on this Playlist, if you wish it to be different from the settings previously chosen fo your station. As a factory default selection, Backbone Internet Radio (Version 1.1.6 and beyond) employs MPEG-4 AAC (advanced audio coding) codec at a streaming rate of 40 kbps intended for 56 kbps modem users. However, if different, the Playlist's default compression is the one that you previously set in the Preferences file. You may alter these settings by using the Advanced Settings button.
Data Rate (Streaming Bit Rate)
This setting defines the rate at which you will compress of all new, previously uncompressed Items that you will add to this Playlist. Because some of your listeners will be connecting from dial up connections in their homes, we recommend that you compress stored items to limit item bandwidth to 28.8 kbps. The quality levels shown will affect the streaming bit rate within the range of rates. For instance, an audio item compressed at high quality may stream at 26 kbps, whereas the same item compressed at low quality may stream at 20 kbps. The default Data Rate is the one that you previously set as Streaming Bit Rate in the Playlist Preferences file.
Items already compressed or hinted
New uncompressed Items, such as CD tracks, will need to be compressed and hinted.
Items in your Server's Item Database have already been compressed and hinted, and this fact is recognized by the Playlist. However, you may wish to add a new pre-compressed item (one that has been compressed and/or hinted, say manually in QuickTime, to your desired Data Rate, such as 28.8 kbps) to the Playlist and Item Database. In this case, the Playlist must be notified that the Item has previously been compressed and/or hinted for streaming. Checking these boxes sets the default for all Items on this Playlist to simplify your work flow when adding Items. You may add a mix of both compressed and uncompressed new Items to the Playlist. In such a case, remember to check the appropriate boxes in the dialog window for each item if they differ from the default status that you checked in the New Playlist Dialog window.
If new Items are already compressed, for instance they may be MP3 or MP4 items brought in from another application such as iTunes, they will have to be hinted, a process which adds information that allows the clip to be streamed. Check only the already compressed box, not the already hinted box, and they will be hinted when you save the Playlist, or immediately when you add an uncompressed item to a currently playing Playlist.
When Scheduled, Starts
Select whether a new Playlist abruptly interrupts a previous Playlist when the scheduled time to start the new Playlist occurs. If Cleanly is selected, the current playing item will finish before the new Playlist starts. The default condition is the one that you previously set in the Preferences file.
Playlist Sequencing
Select whether you want the Playlist to play in sequential order or randomly. You may later change the sequencing of individual groups of items within the Playlist.
Advanced Settings
Advanced users will find settings for QuickTime video and audio in this preference. Please refer to the QuickTime manual for more information.
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Automatically Generating a Playlist
Using the above techniques, you may create a Playlist that consists of automatically selected clips from the Database. Simply create a new empty Playlist, and add generic items in the order you want using the Rotation button. The items will be automatically inserted for you. Save this playlist to the server.
Each time you use this Playlist it will fill up with fresh material that conforms to the outlined rules. Generally speaking, the more material you have in your Database, the more potential Playlist permutations you can expect to generate. To get the most benefit from this feature, be sure to fill in the Rotation information for each item. Note that each time a Playlist with automatically generated rotation items is created (for instance, in a rotation of floating Playlists in a schedule) it may result in a different Playlist duration.
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To operate the product, open your Backbone Internet Radio folder, and first start the BackboneServer application, if not already running. Note: BackboneServer application is launched automatically by the installer, or can be launched manually. Next, start the application OnAirStudio. This is the Client application. On initial use, the program will display a "preferences" dialog. Name the system, and set copyright information as desired.
Default Playlist Appears
The client will now connect to the server, and show the currently broadcasting playlist. If the server has just started, a DEFAULT playlist will appear. Initially this playlist will include two short music clips entitled Demo1 and Demo2. You may add items to the playlist and delete these demo clips before you save your new playlist using the Save As command. Note that from this point on, the default playlist will normally be the playlist playing when you last quit the Server application.
Add New Items to the Playlist
After the initial settings are made, a new Playlist Window will open. The center of this window is where the Items will be deposited and displayed. Now you add Items by dragging and dropping them into the Playlist window. You have several choices as to which type of digital audio content may be added. You may add audio tracks from compact disks, MP3 clips, MP4 clips or .wav files. Simply locate the Item to be added and drag and drop it on the Playlist Window. Alternatively, you may click on the Add Item button on the left side of the Playlist Window , which opens a browse window that helps you find the desired new audio Item on your Client computer. Another way to Add a new item is to select Add Playlist Item under the Playlist menu.
Typically, CD tracks will be named Track 1, Track 2, etc, unless you have named them via the Internet (CDDB) or by using the tags available on MP3's. The new Item will take an initial position in the Playlist Window where you drop it. You may later rearrange the Playlist by dragging and dropping Items within the Playlist Window.
Add Playlist Item Dialog
Each time you drop a new Item into the Playlist Window, a dialog box entitled Add Playlist Item opens. This is the information that will be saved with the Item in the Server's Item Database. (This information may be changed later by double clicking the item in the Database, a permanent change, or when it is in a Playlist, a temporary change unless you save the Playlist with this change in the item.) This information tells you the playing time of the Item, and it has the default compression quality that you initially selected under Preferences and/or in the New Playlist Dialog. If your initial Quality Preference was for music, when you add a voice Item you may wish to select Voice as your compression method, although this is generallly not necessary when you are compressing the item in AAC (MPEG-4) format.
If the new Item has previously been compressed to the desired rate and/or hinted, check the appropriate boxes. This eliminates the compression process for this one Item when you save the Playlist, and it will avoid audio degradation which may be caused by double compressing a clip.
You may enter the intro and outro blend times numerically or use the sliding QuickTime player tool to adjust to the times while listening to the clip. This will take some practice, but it becomes a powerful technique. First click the Set Times button. Two radio buttons appear for Intro and Outro times. Click intro and adjust to the point where the intro blend should stop. At that precise moment, now click on the Outro radio button, and the Intro time will be frozen at that point in the clip. The numerical time in seconds will appear. Now move the slider to the right to adjust the outro time to the end of the clip. Click the Set Times button again to lock in this outro time. Add your next item and repeat this process. You may wish to limit your first Playlist to a few relatively short items in order to get the feel for the process and to keep your subsequent processing time down.
Adding Album, Annotation and Rotation Information
Additional buttons at the top of the Playlist Item take you to windows where you can add (or verify automatically generated) complete information about your content.
ALBUM Information
Fill in or verify information about the album from which the clip was obtained. This information will be important for logs and reports that you generate, as it helps you conform to requirements such as DMCA.
ANNOTATION Information
This is where you define and/or verify what visual content you will stream along with your audio program.
The text information shown in the rectangular box will show up in your listeners' QuickTime player window so they can see what they are listening to. The text is generated from the item's title, artist and copyright information. You may modify the size of the text, and the size of the viewing box. The default text size is 12 points for title/artist and 10 points for copyright information. The default box size is 450 pixels wide by 60 pixels high.
The image(s) you send with your audio will show up in your listeners' QuickTime player. These .jpeg images are pulled from a web server, which you will need to have running on your server appliance. Add your images by clicking on the Add Image button and navigating to the locations of the images on your server. You may define at what time the images change in the rotation during your clip. These are approximate times and may vary by a few seconds. You may view the images by clicking the View Image buttons.
Standard Rotation Information
Each Playlist item can be used as a rotation item when you automatically generate partial or entire Playlists. In order to benefit from the power of this software, it is helpful to define your preferences in terms of priority (a starting rotation value of 1 will be selected more often than a 10) and how quickly the priority fades.
Your may also want to attribute in and out tempos to your clip so you can create effective transitions between streaming items. You can choose from such criteria as fast/slow, hard/soft, or up/down. You may only want to play this item a limited number of times. You may want to begin playing this item on a given date and time, or stop playing it on a given date and time, to coincide with a promotion or event, such as a holiday period. You may choose to play the item only at certain times of the day. The item will not be automatically added to a Playlist in time slots not selected.
All of these Playlist Item preferences will be saved with the item only after the item has been saved (to the Server's Database) by saving a Playlist that contains the item. These items can later be saved by opening the item in the Database, also called the Library.
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Once you have your Playlist in the desired order, it's time to save it. Under the File menu, select Save As. You will save the Playlist to your Client, and at the same time you will process the new Items, meaning that you will automatically compress them down to streamable sizes and transfer the Playlist and its Items to the Server for storage and playing. In the Save As dialog box, you will name your Playlist with letters and/or numbers only (no punctuation, dashes or slashes) followed by .pl. Locate the destination, such as a folder for Playlists, and click the Save button.
When you save a Playlist that contains new Items not already in the Server's Item Database, a new window called Playlist Compression Queue opens. At the bottom of this window your new Playlist is listed and it will have a check mark next to it, indicating that it is queued up for processing. If you are working offline, not connected to the Server, you may want to only compress the new items on the Playlist, and wait to transfer them when you connect to the Server later. The buttons in the upper right corner of the window allow you to compress only, to transfer the items you already compressed, or to do both in one step.
Once you click Compress and Transfer, please be patient. Depending on the speed of your Client machine and the length of your Items, with the new AAC codecs and MPEG-4 you might be waiting about the same time as the playing length of the item (e.g., 3 minutes to compress a 3 minute clip). If you decide to use older codecs, you may have to wait 15 to 20 minutes per 3 minute Item. The compression queue allows the user to create a batch of Playlist Items, and then compress and store them at a convenient time, such as overnight or in the background as you are broadcasting. A progress gauge will display on the screen to indicate the status of your queue. As your list compresses, the compressed Items are first saved to your Client's hard disk in the Cache directory under their new names (plus a numerical identifier that stores information about each Item's settings). If you selected to Compress and Transfer, after the entire Playlist is compressed, your Client automatically connects to the Server and transfers the Playlist and the new items from the Client to the Server.
The new Items are now stored in the Server's Item Database. You may view this database under the Windows menu on your Client computer. You can use this database later to find songs (sort by any of the header criteria by clicking on the desired header) and drag them into new Playlists. Now that these items are already compressed you will find that the processing time is virtually instantaneous for new Playlists using Items from the Server's Database.
Playing a Playlist
When you first open Backbone Internet Radio, your Client automatically attempts to connect to the Server you listed in your Preferences file. If you are not connected, you may connect to the Server at any time by going to the Broadcast Server menu and selecting Connect. This will take you to the Playlist that is currently playing on air. If necessary, you may click the Play button in the lower left corner of the window to start the Playlist. You may begin with any Item in the Playlist by selecting that Item and then clicking Play.
Rearranging a Playlist
To change the order of Items within the Playlist, drag and drop the desired Items to the target locations. This rearrangement is temporary while the Playlist is playing. To keep the changes, save the Playlist.
Randomizing a Playlist
On the left side of each Playlist Item is a check box. When all items are checked, the entire Playlist plays in random order. When all Items are unchecked, the Playlist plays in sequential order from the top down. You may select a contiguous group of Items that among themselves play in random order. When all Items in that group have finished, the Playlist moves on to the next sequential item.
Changing a Playlist Item's Information
You may want to temporarily change information about a Playlist Item, such as its Title, Artist, Description, Intro/Outro times, etc. To do this, double click on the Item in the Playlist Window, or select the Item and choose Edit Playlist Item under the Playlist menu. When the Item's dialog box pops up, you can make the appropriate changes and close the box. To save these changes for that Item in that particular Playlist, Save the Playlist. These changes will normally only affect the Item when playing in that particular Playlist. To permanently make these changes to an Item, change the Item information by double clicking on the Item in the Item Database.
Deleting a Playlist Item
To delete a Playlist item select the item and drag it to the Trash or press the Delete key. To make this change permanent, Save the Playlist.
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Scheduling Live Items
You may schedule timed Live segments with pop-up scripts by inserting text items into the Playlist Window. To create such an item, draft your script text into a Simpletext document, and store it on your Client's hard drive.
To add this Live Item, go to the Playlist menu and select Add Playlist Item. You can browse to select the desired Text Item. In the dialog box, enter the name of the segment and type in the description or the script you want to read. Then enter the length of the segment. When the Server is playing the Playlist and the sequence reaches this live segment your Server prompts you to begin talking or inserting live analog content by turning on the LIVE indicator located in the upper left hand corner of the Playlist Window. Note: Your Client must be connected to the Server, and the playing ("On Air") Playlist must be visible on your Client screen in order to receive the LIVE prompt and insert your live audio.
Going Live Anytime
Scheduled Live Items have defined start and stop times. You will probably want to just turn on the microphone and talk as long as you want. To do this, have the On Air Playlist displayed on your Client monitor. Click on the Microphone icon located on the bottom center of the Playlist. After the currently playing item finishes the Server will illuminate the LIVE indicator located in the upper left corner of the Playlist. Start talking. When you are finished talking, or inserting live content, click the NEXT ITEM button or click the microphone icon again. The Server will extinguish the LIVE indicator when the Playlist resumes. Your microphone is live until the LIVE indicator is dimmed. There will be a slight countdown period while the next Playlist item buffers before streaming. The clock changes color to red and gives you about a 5 second countdown period to finish your live segment, allowing you to synchronize, or even crossfade your live segment with the next Playlist item.
To go LIVE immediately, for instance talking over a clip without waiting for it to end, click the small, round button to the left of the Microphone icon then click the Microphone icon.
In order to hear this occurring in the Studio Monitor, you will want to go to the Preferences menu and direct the Studio Monitor to remain ON while you are LIVE. To avoid feedback into your microphone, you should use headphones to listen to the Studio Monitor.
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If you only have one Playlist, it will repeat from the beginning after it has finished. If you would like to have a longer term automated schedule, you can program multiple Playlists to play in the order you desire. You can create a schedule that is timed, floating, or a combination. To open the Schedule go to the Playlist menu and select Playlist Schedule.
Adding a Playlist to the Schedule
To add a Playlist to the Schedule, click on the Add to Schedule button on that Playlist's window. The Playlist name will appear on the Playlist Schedule window.
Rearranging the Schedule
To change the order of Playlists within the Schedule, drag and drop the desired Playlist to the target location. Then click the Apply Changes button to save.
Timing the Schedule
Any Playlist can be scheduled to start at a specific time. Otherwise Playlists will continue to play in sequential order, with one starting after the previous one finishes playing. However, to fix a start time for any Playlist, double click the Playlist of interest. A dialog window entitled Playlist Schedule Item will appear. To fix the start time, check the box called Playlist goes To-Air at. Insert the date and time you wish the Playlist to start.
If you want to define a specific stop time, also check the box called Playlist Stop Time. Insert the date and time you want the Playlist to stop. If you want the Playlist to float instead to the next Playlist, leave this box unchecked. Note that each time a Playlist with automatically generated rotation items is created (for instance, in a rotation of floating Playlists in a schedule) it may result in a different Playlist duration.
You may elect to have the Playlist begin at approximately the specified time, allowing the currently playing Item in the previous Playlist to finish. Or you may demand that the Playlist start at precisely the desired time, even if it interrupts the currently playing Item. Check the appropriate box in the Playlist Schedule Item dialog box. Now click OK to apply these parameters to the Playlist. Once you have fixed the time on a Playlist , its Fixed Time radio button is darkened on the Playlist Schedule window.
Like any scheduling system, you will want to calculate times to keep from floating to a Playlist before its scheduled time, otherwise it will repeat itself.
Finally, if your Schedule comes to an end with no Playlist left to play, you can select whether you want the Schedule to repeat from the first Playlist or repeat the last Playlist. Click Apply Changes to save this Schedule information.
You can find one or more previously compressed Items stored in the Item Database. To create a search, go to the File menu and select Find. A window entitled Find Playlist Items will appear. Several criteria are listed for your search. You may specify one or several criteria to narrow down the search to just those Items you seek. Type in the appropriate criterea, and click on Search. The matching results will appear in the Item List Window. You may now drag the desired Item(s) onto your Playlist.
Search Criteria include:
Changing an Item in the Database
Open the Item Database in the Client's Window menu. Find the desired Item and double click on it. Make the appropriate changes and close the dialog box. You can even chang the annotation options.
Deleting a Database Item
You may wish to weed out unnecessary or unwanted Items. To do this, open the Item Database in the Client's Window menu, and select the Item and drag it to the Trash or press the Delete key. This item will be permanently deleted from the Item Database.
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After saving the preferences, by clicking "OK", the ONAir client will automatically generate Quicktime Stub movies for accessing the server on a non-firewalled system <station name>.mov and through a firewall <station name>H.mov. Another stub movie, <station name>G.mov, is the general stub movie that automatically connects using Port 80 or Port 554, depending on which is available to the listener. Use these "stub" movies to listen to your station, and embed them in a web page for network access. These movies can be found in the "backbone internet radio" directory, and can be integrated into any web page.
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©2003 Backbone Networks Corporation
