ClockList - a different kind of music playlist generator

RadioDave

New member
Greetings!

With Dmitry's kind permission, I'd like to introduce you to ClockList. ClockList is a dynamic playlist generator based upon the broadcast clock concept. It is designed to mimic the time-based music rotation clocks I used when I worked in radio.

Essentially, ClockList is designed to create new playlists on a very frequent basis (each hour, or even more often), using a pattern of tags to determine song ordering. It uses RadioBoss tags, embedded into MP3s, to track when a song is played so that artist/song repeat rules can be followed. 

Rather than clutter the board, I've written a summary of the concepts in a web page - http://RadioDAVE.US/ClockList.

I'm curious if anyone else might find this type of playlist generator useful, and would love suggestions.

Thanks,
  Dave
 
Dave, this looks even more interesting than you first described it.
Is there a demo version available to download? I didn't find one on the page...
 
Hi Dmitry,

I'll try to get something available by later today for general review.

Thanks for your interest!
  Dave
 
I have uploaded the current debug build to this location:

(Link removed - see later link)

The application is a C# DotNet application for Windows. I am using it under Windows 7 (64-bit).

This should be considered a beta build! It should allow the user to create a tag library, then assemble a clock order, and create a playlist. The target MP3s should have their tags set to expected values.

I will be continuing to add functionality, and I am eager for feedback.

  Dave
 
By the way, the application will create system logs in the same directory as the EXE. You can change the logging level in the Tools / Option menu. It will create a new log file each day to avoid creating a too-big file.

I'll start working on user documentation.

  Dave
 
Hi Dave:
Looks interesting development!. :)

I found an error when trying to generate a list.
Maybe I did something wrong because they do not really understand the program, I'm waiting for documentation.

I am attaching a txt and a screenshot of the error
 

Attachments

  • Error.txt
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  • Bug.png
    Bug.png
    1.2 MB · Views: 643
Ah - excellent catch Nelson. I'm using a library called, "tag lib", to grind through the MP3 tags. Hmmmm - I supposed I need to make some kind of installer to make sure all of the DLLs are included and registered. I've tried to keep the app pretty simple, but forgot about that external library. Let me see if I can get something packaged up.

  Dave
 
Okay, this should be much better -

(Link removed - see later link)

Unzip this file - it should create a set of folders. In the root folder is SETUP.EXE, which should install everything that is needed.

Thanks for testing Nelson!
 
I gave the documentation a quick scrub this morning! It should be in much better shape and allow the user to understand the concepts and usage behind ClockList.

http://www.radiodave.us/CLDocs

Please let me know where there are errors, or where additional information would be useful.

Thanks,
  Dave
 
This documentation is way better than the one for Playlist Generator Pro :) Good work, Dave.

I noticed that your web site doesn't open from several locations eg. Russia or China. Maybe some other countries are blocked too.
 
Hi Dmitry -

I'm glad you like the documentation! I hope to improve it with time - for example, instructions on how to integrate the dynamic playlists using the RadioBOSS scheduler.

I had no idea that reaching the website from some countries was a challenge. Did you notice the challenge when accessing a particular page?

I just tested access to the documentation using http://www.uptrends.com/aspx/free-html-site-page-load-check-tool.aspx and http://loads.in/ from several locations, including Moscow and Shanghai, and it seemed to work.

Do you know of other tools that might be better for testing international access? I want to make sure that everyone has a good experience :)

Thank-you for your feedback,
  Dave
 
Very good documentation!, Now I understand how the program works :)
Just when I tried to create a playlist file another error appeared, I attached a txt.
 

Attachments

  • Bug.txt
    4.7 KB · Views: 998
Nelson!

I think you found a bug that I really need to get squished. It typically appears when the number of minutes before a song repeat is greater than what's available - so the search engine keeps looping randomly around the list until it finally fails. I'm going to re-write that section to catch the limitation much earlier and create meaningful log entries.

You can help me to confirm it, if you have any extra time.
  • Open ClockList
  • Click the Tools / Options menu to open the options dialog
  • Set the Logging Level to Info
  • Click OK to save the configuration update
  • Run ClockList
  • It should generate a log file in the same folder with the application

If I could get a peek at the log, I'd have a better idea what it is doing.

Thanks -
  Dave
 
RadioDave said:
I had no idea that reaching the website from some countries was a challenge. Did you notice the challenge when accessing a particular page?
Whole web site is down when I try accessing from a Russian IP. Maybe you should ask your hosting company if they have blocked any IP subnetworks. It can be my proxy server issue though...

And a couple of little bug reports from me :)
1.
- click Edit Tags and fill all the fields except for Name and/or Folder
- click Save - error message pops up saying that Name is required
- no matter if I select click OK or Cancel, it resets all the data so I need to fill everything again

2.
- add couple of Defined Tags, add them to Tag Pattern
- remove one of the Defined Tags
- click Build and get this:
Code:
See the end of this message for details on invoking 
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at ClockList.frmClockList.btnFiles_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)

Another issue here is when Defined tag is removed it still stays in the Tag Pattern list.

3.
Not a bug, but potential issue. m3u playlists are in ANSI encoding, probably it's a good idea to switch to .m3u8 playlists which are UTF8. It's OK to same m3u in UTF8 - RadioBOSS will read those, but other players (like Winamp) won't.
 
Wow! You guys are great! Thanks for the feedback. I'm working on the issues now.

I've added logic to the system to determine the available number of songs for each tag, and I am logging the count when the logging level is set to INFO. That should help in several ways:
1) Only the songs that have passed the "time since last play" threshold will be in the random search loop
2) It should provide great feedback to the operator how close their threshold is to having zero eligible songs
3) It should make it easy to avoid walking an INT into an exception error!

Once I have this bug fix tested, I'll start looking at the Deleted Tag scenario - very cool!

  Dave
 
Hi Gang,

Most of the bugs are addressed. You can find a new build here:

(Link removed - see later link)

Uninstall the current beta before installing this one.

I still need to address Dmitry's "Edit Tags Field re-Type" bug.

  Dave
 
With the bug features last night I added a tuning feature to help you tune your "Number of Minutes Before Song Repeats" in the Tag Editor. During the playlist generation, the system will create a log entry for each tag that shows how many entries are eligible for use after being filtered for time. The logger must be set for "Info" level logging to see the entries.

As an example, I have a tag named, "High". The logger provided this information: 

Code:
4/15/2013 8:28:53 PM 	 Info 	 Available songs for tag High:269

For more information, check the "Tuning" section of the documentation at:
http://www.radiodave.us/CLTuning

  Dave
 
Updated beta - now displays the resulting playlist to the local user in a listview control.

The user can audition the music inside the playlist dialog box (including quick Next and Previous) to get the "feel" of the playlist.

In addition, the user can copy the resulting playlist to the clipboard, as tab-delimited text, for further analysis.

Uninstall previous versions prior to installing this update.

(Link removed - see later link)
 
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