tjmarx Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Ok so I use SAM for my station, but really I suppose that is more out of trouble finding a viable alternative. So here I am asking for myself and for others, ideas on viable alternatives to SAM. Hopefully without the same sort of price tag... PS. Free is even better.. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arfa B Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Zararadio is very good, better than SAM for live assist for sure. And it's free! If I have helped you with a Freebie- please be kind enough to add a link from your own site or blog to mine- thanks! http://arthurburton.net Thank You! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airfm Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 We use Zara Radio and update title 2 for the stream artist/song and it works great (All Irish Radio)never breaks down(fingers crossed)has been running for the last 3 years,plays all the tracks and then shuffles / jingles are every10/15 mins and can be left to work away by itself for weeks at a time..SAM hard to set up,just got it to play tracks random (thanks to GK RADIO) had a week where every 6 hours it would freeze and had to be restarted (sorted i hope thanks to support)still cannot get web playlist / request to work,and am not happy leaving it to work on its own, need to check every now and again to make sure all is ok (used on KISS FM/ABC 80's)..A programme with a mix of both would be great...Brendan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjmarx Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 Hi guys, Thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded ZaraRadio to see what it's like. It seems pretty good, I would like to know though, because the help file doesn't seem to indicate this. How do I connect the software to my shoutcast server? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjmarx Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 Of course, I also want some more suggestions from people. Would be good if we could get a full list of viable software solutions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKIye Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Hi Brendan, After I made contact with the SpacialAudio online support, I was adviced to run SAM4 on my Win2003 server and .. so far so good (knock on wood ) for results check the links written into my signature had a week where every 6 hours it would freeze and had to be restarted Visit and listen @ BW ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arfa B Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 How do I connect the software to my shoutcast server? There is a Zararadio forum, which is excellent! http://www.zararadio.com/phpBB3/ You either need something like simplecast (that does work, I have tried it!) http://www.spacialaudio.com/?page=products or, it may be possible to use shouitcast server etc. with winamp and use the line-in facilty with Winamp. The forums should tell you all you need to know though. Good Luck! If I have helped you with a Freebie- please be kind enough to add a link from your own site or blog to mine- thanks! http://arthurburton.net Thank You! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airfm Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Many thanks for the replies I am using a Vista computer and I was sent SAM 4.6 to download and told to put the computer in "Classic" mode and this seems to have worked as it has been stable for the last 4 days,How do you get the playlist/request system to work,i took out a new web page to get it going and still no joy,it will not connect to web site via ftp ....Do you have to put a code on the web page first,the system makeavoice.com use is easier we use that for All Irish New Music (www.allirishradio.com) To arthurburton I use Station playlist streamer and winamp to get the audio from Zara (it sounds well even if i say so) the streamer has a number of optimod options for the sound... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teltek Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Hi guys, Thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded ZaraRadio to see what it's like. It seems pretty good, I would like to know though, because the help file doesn't seem to indicate this. How do I connect the software to my shoutcast server? we have used Edcast to good effect with Zara, google it, select the stand alone version, not the plug in. Good luck with your project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aeolus Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Im a big fan of Drs2006 as an automation... affordable, stable, and does everything i want it to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjmarx Posted November 26, 2009 Author Share Posted November 26, 2009 Thanks for the idea's guys. Is there anything that could work as a straight alternative to Sam Broadcaster though? That is to say, Zara Radio doesn't have the ability to encode and stream like SAM can. I'd like to make this thread a collection of software alternatives that are easy for people that are new to use. While I like some of Zara Radio's features, SAM is still standing out as #1 to me so far. So any more suggestions would be great. I also found something called Simian online. The price at $1499 is WAY out of my budget for software, but for interest sake I was wondering if anyone has/done use(d) Simian, what it's like, how it compares to SAM and whether it's worth the hefty price tag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aeolus Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Drs2006 uses stream encoders made by spacialaudio (the makers of Sam), so for that matter it can be a good alternative. One thing Drs doesn't have when you compare it to Sam, is the ability to let your users request songs through your website, which will be put in the playlist automatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I have used Zara since Feb 07. Found it very reliable. I went on holiday once for three weeks. Set everything up in events before I went. It was still working tickedity boo wonderful when I came home. I had a quick check through the log files and it seemed to have played all I asked it to. I make up a new 24hr playlist everyday. Saved as m3u. Then I have a mixture of half hour features either mp3 or wav file. I also prepare about three seq files for each day. All announcements are predone, set in as events, then it'll play several in a row, one after each other. Very smooth. I battled with SAM for a month. It nearly drove me nuts. The only thing I liked about SAM was it's audio processing. I got it sounding real good. Zara is worth a try. It has a good forum. Is free. You don't have to register it and you can install and reinstall as much as you like, and run it on several computers if you want to. No heafty data base eating up resources. Simple, light and it works. The only thing I wish it would do is run a deadroll to finish at a precise time. I run it to LPFM but there is plenty of info on it's forum about streaming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simck123 Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 We use Station Playlist Studio and Creator http://www.stationplaylist.com I can't find any fault with it. Studio runs unattended for days in automation mode and works perfect for live-assist. I have been using SPL since 2003 and it has never let me down. Best regards, Simon Cook Station Owner www.thisispower.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johny c Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I recommend ZaraRadio. Id tell you about all its great points, but there's not enough room here to write them all. Best I can say is it never falls over and its FREE. RAG-FM 107.7 Raglan New Zealand & ragfm.com ........"Top Music Top of the Dial" Click HERE to listen to the RAG-FM radio stream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simck123 Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Is it possible to demo ZaraRadio 2.0? Best regards, Simon Cook Station Owner http://www.thisispower.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johny c Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 No I dont think so, I have never found it. For me the free version work's fine. It does everything I want it to do. RAG-FM 107.7 Raglan New Zealand & ragfm.com ........"Top Music Top of the Dial" Click HERE to listen to the RAG-FM radio stream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 Try the free version. Then go to their website and check feature for feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlt123 Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 We use Station Playlist Studio and Creator http://www.stationplaylist.com I can't find any fault with it. Studio runs unattended for days in automation mode and works perfect for live-assist. I have been using SPL since 2003 and it has never let me down. Best regards, Simon Cook Station Owner www.thisispower.co.uk I agree, I use StationPlayList Pro as well and it is an awesome application. Works flawlessly with no downtime. Creator is excellent. Great Station software. Worth the price! Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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