Playlist Items

Playlist items and events

A playlist in Raduga usually consists of sound tracks, but it may also contain a variety of different items. Most of them are special-purpose files, but some are just commands that do not refer to a particular file. Raduga recognises the type of a playlist item by its file extension. Therefore all playlist items, even those that are not files, must have an extension.

All of the following files and commands may appear in a playlist and can be scheduled as events.

Sound File (.mp3, .wav, .wma): Sound files include pre-recorded shows, jingles, liners and music tracks recorded from CD or tape.
Video File (.mpg, .avi, .wmv): Raduga can play video files in original size or in full-screen mode.
Audio CD Track (.cda) ¹: To add a complete audio CD, use the menu Playlist|Add All CD Tracks. Individual CD tracks can be added by drag and drop from the CD-ROM drive in the Windows Explorer. Note that the playlist item becomes invalid when you remove the CD from the CD-ROM drive.
Line-In Signal (.live) ^{1, 3}: You can use the line-in channel of your sound card to re-broadcast a satellite news feed or the program from another radio station. Specify the duration of the live feed in seconds and add the extension '.live'. For example type '120.live' as the file name for a live feed of 120 seconds.
Pause (.pause): Use the menu Playlist|Add Pause to add 10 seconds of silence to the playlist. To change the duration of the pause select the pause track in the master playlist and press the F2 key.
Mini Playlist (.mpl): A mini playlist is a sequence of news items or commercials that are always played together. This sequence can be scheduled as a single event or it can be included in a regular playlist. It is even possible to include a mini playlist within another mini-playlist.
Text File (.txt) ²: Text files can be used to provide the DJ with additional information. The content on the text file is shown in the output window. To show the output window select the menu item "View|Output Window".
Tip: Use the Notepad editor to edit text files and save them using the default encoding (ANSI).
Play Command (.play) ^{2, 3}: To start automatic brodcasting at a pre-defined time, create a scheduled event and type '.play' for the file name in the 'Edit Event' dialog box. Make sure to check 'Run immediately', otherwise it won't work.
Stop Command (.stop) ²: To stop the automatic broadcast mode at a specified time, add a scheduled event and type '.stop' instead of a file name. You can also add a stop command to a playlist using the menu Playlist|Add Stop Command.
Playlist (.alb) ²: To load a playlist on schedule, specify the full path of a playlist file for a scheduled event. To queue a new playlist at the end of another playlist, you may add a playlist file as the last item of the previous playlist.
Jingle (.jingle) ²: You can schedule one of the 9 jinges of the current jingle set. For example, to simulate the jingle button 2, enter '2.jingle' in the file name text box of the 'Edit Event' dialog box.
Executable (.bat, .cmd, .exe, .js, .pl, .vbs) ²: You can add programs, batch files or scripts in the playlist or as scheduled events. When such a program is due, it is starts asynchronosly and the playlist continues instantly.
Random Track (.dir) ⁴: To add a random track from a category to a playlist, create a directory and populate it with sound files. Then select this directory using the menu Playlist|Add Random Track. To schedule a random track from this directory, type the directory name followed by the extension '.dir', for example: 'C:\Random Files.dir', where 'C:\Random Files' is the name of a directory.
Rotation (.rotation) ⁴: A rotation will play one track at a time out of a pre-selected list. You create a rotation list just like a regular playlist, but save it with the file extension '.rotation' instead of '.alb'.

Notes
¹ This track will not be affected by DirectX Plug-ins.
² This command cannot be used within a mini playlist.
³ This command is only useful as a scheduled item.
⁴ If you have these items in a playlist, it is no longer possible to determine the total playlist length in advance, because the actual track will be determined at runtime.