Music 1 works with all media players, including the popular SAM, OtsDJ and DRS2006 webcasting systems. Each of those and some others have a kind of a built in scheduling system that can get you by, but they have limitations that must be contended with.

Now, we like those systems and we have customers using M1 with each of them and other brands, too. But they are "players", That is their fundamental reason for being. Of course, the people who buy need some way to schedule their music and other content. Clicking-and-dragging 300 to 400 units into playlist order on a daily basis is just not acceptable.

To assist with this problem, each of the players have devised a rudimentary scheduling system based on folders/directories. What they have you do is create, say, ten folders on your hard drive then move X-number of songs into each of the folders. And you make a couple of folders for voice tracks and promos. Then, in the player you create a format hour template that basically tells the scheduler to pick and play a track from each of the folders in succession. It plays a song from folder one, a song from folder two, a voice track/promo from folder three, a song from folder four, etc. and repeats.

This provides some randomness to the music flow. And, you can get a bit more control with this simple system by doing such things as making some folders tempo-specific. If Folders 1, 2 and 3 contain only uptempo songs, Folders 4 and 5 contain only medium tempo songs, and Folder 6 contains the slow ones, then you can construct a template that will give your music mix more boogie.

The problem is that's about as far as it goes. With the folder-scheduling system, you have little control over artist separation unless you make individual folders for each artist and then arrange the folder order. You have a problem setting things up to properly observe the DMCA rules. You have problems ensuring songs aren't scheduled over and over at the same time of day instead of being scheduled in afternoons, then in mornings, then in evenings, etc, before being scheduled again in afternoons.

Yes, you can get-by with this kind of system and it is a step up from the tediousness of click-and-drag playlist creating. But if you are serious about webcasting, you're going to have to have the same kind of tool professional music radio program/music directors use, that is a dedicated music scheduling software like M1.

Here's how M1 works.