1 Topic by biglooradio

  • biglooradio
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Topic: I've Jumped Ship!

Some of you may know that I am an avid OTSAV (Formerly OTSDJ) user.  However, lately I had been reading the postings here and on other forums about StationPlaylist.

Reluctantly, I went ahead an purchased the software but procrastinated about putting it to use - more because I was so comfortable with OTSAV.  After a few weeks of getting the software, I contacted both Bob Dittman and Lee Moore (from this forum) to see if they would be able to guide me on usage, etc of SPL.  I followed most of their instructions - after all, the you have to set up the software work the way you want to.

This past Monday Bigloo Christian Radio very nervously went "live".  After using OTS for almost 10 years, you can imagine my not being sure if this was the right thing to do - but I did it anyway.  I love OTSAV, and will recommend it to anyone, but this SPL is THE BOMB!  I am no longer nervous about it.  things have run very smoothly, the sound is pretty gosh darn good (using Sound Solution Plugin).

I will not miss the file conversions, but will miss the overall sound OTS has among other things.  Certainly OTS will continue to be my back up using the files already converted. But I am finding SPL to be very simple to use... updating files and playlists is a snap.

So... I recommend both OTSAV and SPL for automated stations.  In my mind how does SPL compare to SAM?  I use SAM on another project I work on and in my opinion this far exceeds SAM hands down - with the exception that you cannot do online requests. Yes, I am very happy with it. (SAM users don't shoot, these are just my opinions smile )

Many thanks to Bob Dittman and Lee Moore for the help, and putting up with my 1,001 daily questions.  They really helped me understand the software and the different ways it can work for the station.  I couldn't have done it with out their help. Thanks also to those of you who use SPL and post on this forum.  If not for you, I would not have gotten the itch to get the software.

So - if you are looking for a good piece of software, where the learning curve isn't bad at all, SPL is the way to go.  OTSAV is also a good alternative, but right now I am in SPL heaven!

Last edited by biglooradio (2009-11-13 10:59:12)

Lou
Bigloo Christian Radio - Shining a beacon of light around the world!

biglooradio's Website

2 Reply by Chaim5754

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Not on the subject, but did you know your website has a "Warning" from McAfee software.  I noticed that it is also blocked by our parental Control software on our homesever.

www.oraradio.net

3 Reply by Gorby

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Chaim5754 wrote:

Not on the subject, but did you know your website has a "Warning" from McAfee software.  I noticed that it is also blocked by our parental Control software on our homesever.

Umm, McAfee Site Advisor really doesn't like your site. Can't see why it dislikes an Amazon.com cookie.

http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/biglooradio.com

Cheers, Richard

Atlantic Oldies 2NG - Bringing the best Oldies and Classic Hits from both sides of the Atlantic. Taking the Crisis away from the Midlife!

Gorby's Website

4 Reply by nitnitr

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Thanks for the kudos Lou, and you are quite welcome. I am into my second year with Station Playlist, and would recommend it to anyone. I still tweak it from time to time as I find more things with the software to tinker with. Your station sounds great, and I know you will enjoy using SPL.

Bob
Lead Me To The Rock Radio
http://www.leadmetotherock.com

nitnitr's Website

5 Reply by biglooradio

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Oh gosh not again. sad  I think I will just have to do a complete overhaul of the web site.  Anyone have any cool templates available?  This is not something I was expecting.  Interstingly my mcafee at work doesnt find an error with it (nor does my checker at home).

Bob---Thanks again!

Lou
Bigloo Christian Radio - Shining a beacon of light around the world!

biglooradio's Website

6 Reply by DaveCT

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

You're going to love SPL. I've been using it for four years now. I like it so much I've become a reseller. smile

Dave
Soft 'N Easy Net Radio (Powered by StationPlaylist)
Listen to "The Magic Of The 80's" Saturday's 8pm EDT and Sunday's 12pm EDT

DaveCT's Website

7 Reply by Gorby

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

biglooradio wrote:

Oh gosh not again. sad  I think I will just have to do a complete overhaul of the web site.  Anyone have any cool templates available?  This is not something I was expecting.  Interstingly my mcafee at work doesnt find an error with it (nor does my checker at home).

Bob---Thanks again!

McAfee anti-spyware and AntiVirus at work is fine with the site, but we use McAfee SiteAdvisor to stop work users going to dodgy sites and we've found it to be very reliable but why your site is getting the issues I don't know. (I'm also puzzled why it shows my site as linked to swcast.net when it isn't!). You may need to file a report with Siteadvisor and see what they say. IT looks like it may be user complaints rather than anything specific.

As for web design, I love Joomla as a content management system. So flexible. Bit of a learning curve but worth it.

Hope that helps.

Cheers, Richard

Atlantic Oldies 2NG - Bringing the best Oldies and Classic Hits from both sides of the Atlantic. Taking the Crisis away from the Midlife!

Gorby's Website

8 Reply by biglooradio

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Richard,

Thanks... I sent them an email asking them to let me know the reasons why and if anything to re-evaluate the site.  I re-did a couple of the pages and removed any of the smaller amazon links I had and left it as the one main link.

This is sort of frustrating to find as I cannot find anything wrong.  Additionally, at my work, where they are super anal about security etc, I can access the site with no troubles.

Hopefully, McAfee won't take long to repsond to my request.

Despite this set back.... SPL still is working it's magic, and I am still very pleased with it (trying to get it back on topic).  smile

Last edited by biglooradio (2009-11-15 23:51:15)

Lou
Bigloo Christian Radio - Shining a beacon of light around the world!

biglooradio's Website

9 Reply by Chaim5754

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

When we started our broadcast we did a trial of SPL and SAM.  The one thing about SPL was that it just didn't flow for us like SAM.  We knew the limitations of both software and went to SAM.  Since my brother and I were paying for everything ourselves the price for the stream host on SPL was the killer.  We were about to order then we read we would need to spend liek 99 more so we went to SAM.  We are happy with SAM but we don't do anything fancy.  It was like buying Microsoft office and then find out as you paid for it you had to buy Word for 99 more.  Without that streaming the whole bunch would of been worthless to us.  Keep in mind we are just starting out with internet radio so we don't know much.

www.oraradio.net

10 Reply by DaveCT

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Chaim5754 wrote:

Since my brother and I were paying for everything ourselves the price for the stream host on SPL was the killer.  We were about to order then we read we would need to spend liek 99 more so we went to SAM.  We are happy with SAM but we don't do anything fancy.  It was like buying Microsoft office and then find out as you paid for it you had to buy Word for 99 more.  Without that streaming the whole bunch would of been worthless to us.  Keep in mind we are just starting out with internet radio so we don't know much.

You can use ANY stream host you choose. By purchasing SPL you were never locked into using their streaming services. And you are not locked into using SpacialNet stream hosting with SAM either.

Dave
Soft 'N Easy Net Radio (Powered by StationPlaylist)
Listen to "The Magic Of The 80's" Saturday's 8pm EDT and Sunday's 12pm EDT

DaveCT's Website

11 Reply by FS-Randy

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

When a site is hosted on a shared server, any site on that server could get the IP black listed.

Gorby wrote:
biglooradio wrote:

Oh gosh not again. sad  I think I will just have to do a complete overhaul of the web site.  Anyone have any cool templates available?  This is not something I was expecting.  Interstingly my mcafee at work doesnt find an error with it (nor does my checker at home).

Bob---Thanks again!

McAfee anti-spyware and AntiVirus at work is fine with the site, but we use McAfee SiteAdvisor to stop work users going to dodgy sites and we've found it to be very reliable but why your site is getting the issues I don't know. (I'm also puzzled why it shows my site as linked to swcast.net when it isn't!). You may need to file a report with Siteadvisor and see what they say. IT looks like it may be user complaints rather than anything specific.

As for web design, I love Joomla as a content management system. So flexible. Bit of a learning curve but worth it.

Hope that helps.

Managed Hosting - Saving the world from buffering and downtime - one stream at a time!
A LoudCity hosting partner.

FS-Randy's Website

12 Reply by Chaim5754

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

You can use ANY stream host you choose. By purchasing SPL you were never locked into using their streaming services. And you are not locked into using SpacialNet stream hosting with SAM either.


What was meant was that once buying the pro package we needed to buy StationPlaylist Streamer for 35 or so bucks more.  Without it or another encoder one can not stream, so we were told.

www.oraradio.net

13 Reply by Gorby

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Chaim5754 wrote:

What was meant was that once buying the pro package we needed to buy StationPlaylist Streamer for 35 or so bucks more.  Without it or another encoder one can not stream, so we were told.

Who told yer that? SPL comes with it's own flavor of Oddcast (Now called Edcast) and works very well. Stationplaylist STreamer isn't needed if you use SPL (either standard or Pro).

And welcome to the strange addictive world of online radio. smile

Cheers, Richard

Atlantic Oldies 2NG - Bringing the best Oldies and Classic Hits from both sides of the Atlantic. Taking the Crisis away from the Midlife!

Gorby's Website

14 Reply by biglooradio

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

You know, I purchased the stand alone streamer thinking I needed it.  After an email to Ross, at SPL, he explained that I really didn't need the stand alone because it was... STAND ALONE... sort of how SimpleCast is stand alone.  So I lost some dollars in that, nothing terrible, and it's a nice item to have also.  Ross then guided me to where the encoder was in the SPL software.  Works great.

I had a small blip today... not sure why. SPL just stopped working today for some reason.  Again don't know why.  But... the very nice thing is that once I restarted SPL... the software just started where it should be for that particular time of day and in the proper playlist.

Still lots of things I need to learn/figure out.  In addition to learning SPL, I also have to understand how Windows 7 functions.... the box SPL is in uses windows 7.

Last edited by biglooradio (2009-11-16 00:01:51)

Lou
Bigloo Christian Radio - Shining a beacon of light around the world!

biglooradio's Website

15 Reply by DaveCT

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

biglooradio wrote:

I had a small blip today... not sure why. SPL just stopped working today for some reason.

That happened to me and Gorby once also. No idea why.

Dave
Soft 'N Easy Net Radio (Powered by StationPlaylist)
Listen to "The Magic Of The 80's" Saturday's 8pm EDT and Sunday's 12pm EDT

DaveCT's Website

16 Reply by biglooradio

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Weird... happened again this morning.  Said that it had stopped responding.  I am using Win 7 so hopefully that isn't an issue.  Other than that... it's been smooth sailing.

Lou
Bigloo Christian Radio - Shining a beacon of light around the world!

biglooradio's Website

17 Reply by LaneWells

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

My SPL will occasionally stop, "Audio Engine Has to Stop."  Last week for the first time ever, SPL just stopped with no error message.  With regard to the audio engine having to stop,  Ross writes, "It looks like the audio engine crashed, which could very well be related to
the same problem with the programs disappearing.  The usual reason for a
crash is due to a specific audio file that is corrupted or not supported.
You will need to attempt to find the track concerned using the Playlist
Editor logs to see what was playing and/or about to play at the time of the
audio engine message.  It is often the next track after the last song
mentioned in the Studio log.  It is possible the crash occurs every time this track is played."

Now, if I can just find out how to find the log!  lol

Last edited by LaneWells (2009-11-16 09:05:57)

Lane Wells ~ Atlanta
www.EzDoesItRadio.com

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18 Reply by biglooradio

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Lane - great info.  Interestingly in my case, the song finished as it should, but then crashed on the next song.  When I restarted SPL, the file on which it crashed with played without incident.  Certainly worth watching for next time this happens!

One thing I have found is that SPL does not like files that were saved with a variable bitrate.  SPL (as does SAM) will look at the 3 minute song as a longer time (i.e. 31 minutes).  So playlists were coming up short then repeating for the remainder of the hour. So I had to go back and save those files as a constant bitrate.  Not sure if any of this is part of why it's crashing on me, but just thought I'd share that info on variable bitrates.

Last edited by biglooradio (2009-11-16 13:17:46)

Lou
Bigloo Christian Radio - Shining a beacon of light around the world!

biglooradio's Website

19 Reply by Gorby

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

DaveCT wrote:
biglooradio wrote:

I had a small blip today... not sure why. SPL just stopped working today for some reason.

That happened to me and Gorby once also. No idea why.


Gorby twice. Just happened. SPL Engine kept going but Studio did not. Puzzled as hell! Shame, SPL has been stable as anything. Maybe I need to roll back a version!

Cheers, Richard

Atlantic Oldies 2NG - Bringing the best Oldies and Classic Hits from both sides of the Atlantic. Taking the Crisis away from the Midlife!

Gorby's Website

20 Reply by biglooradio

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Great news.....  I just received this from McAfee SiteAdvisor...

Hello Louis,

Thank you for contacting us.

I'm very pleased to inform you that your site(biglooradio.com)has got the Green rating.

Please Check the details in http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/biglooradio.com


Sincerely,

Karunamoorthy
Avert Services
McAfee SiteAdvisor

Gorby, thanks for suggesting I contact them. I must say I am pleased with the response and short time it took for them to make this change. It's nice to be "green"  smile

SPL still working wonders... time for a snoopy dance!

Lou
Bigloo Christian Radio - Shining a beacon of light around the world!

biglooradio's Website

21 Reply by Project 42

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Add one more convert!  I've been streaming with Studio Pro since Monday evening, and I'm very happy so far.  I haven't even begun to dig in to what it can do, but I'm eager to learn.  I LOVE the voice tracking...it's much easier to use, and the recorder plays nice with my Blue Snowball USB mic (something SAM never did).

Project 42 Radio -- The old stuff.  The new stuff.  All the stuff in-between. 

Project 42's Website

22 Reply by DaveCT

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

Welcome to the club Project 42!

Dave
Soft 'N Easy Net Radio (Powered by StationPlaylist)
Listen to "The Magic Of The 80's" Saturday's 8pm EDT and Sunday's 12pm EDT

DaveCT's Website

23 Reply by Jax84

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Re: I've Jumped Ship!

biglooradio wrote:

Lane - great info.  Interestingly in my case, the song finished as it should, but then crashed on the next song.  When I restarted SPL, the file on which it crashed with played without incident.  Certainly worth watching for next time this happens!

One thing I have found is that SPL does not like files that were saved with a variable bitrate.  SPL (as does SAM) will look at the 3 minute song as a longer time (i.e. 31 minutes).  So playlists were coming up short then repeating for the remainder of the hour. So I had to go back and save those files as a constant bitrate.  Not sure if any of this is part of why it's crashing on me, but just thought I'd share that info on variable bitrates.

I have had zero problems using VBR music files.

I had checked with Ross before using them and he assured me they were fine.

Jax