# GetPlay

# GetPlay is a huge time-saver and an excellent way to assure that a program whose content changes every day gets played consistently. It behaves similarly to the TuneStacker™ command called "Play," except, instead of finding the files at the time you generate your program log in TuneStacker, # GetPlay tells TuneTracker™ to do the work instead, dynamically, as it is playing out your program log. One of the big benefits of this approach is that it is very forgiving about missing files. By letting TuneTracker™ retrieve the files a split second before they are needed, you'll have the opportunity to add files right up to the very last minute.

To get a sense of how # GetPlay works, let's use an imaginary situation. Let's say you have a daily one-minute program called "Today in Tech History." It arrives on CD once a week, and you normally dub the shows into your /boot/Station/Programs folder as soon as the CD arrives in the mail each week. From now on, dub them in with filenames that look like this:

TechHistory_11-03-06.mp3
TechHistory_11-04-06.mp3
TechHistory_11-05-06.mp3
TechHistory_11-06-06.mp3


Then, in your format clocks/master logs, the line you add to your programming should look like this:

•   Example:
  
  # GetPlay /boot/Station/Programs/TechHistory_%D.mp3
  

TuneTracker™ will see the line and automatically substitute the current day's date for %D (Date) when looking for the file. Thus, you only need to add the line once to your master log, and from then on you never have to touch the logs again! Just make sure your files follow the same naming scheme all the time and you'll be all set.


YOU CAN INCLUDE THE HOUR TOO!

Imagine a format clock versatile enough to chose the correct voice track for every hour of every day, without your ever having to create more than one format clock!

Just name your files like these (07 represents the 7 a.m. hour, while VT1, VT2, etc., represent the positions in the hour.

VT1_11-06-08_07.mp3
VT2_11-06-08_07.mp3
VT3_11-06-08_07.mp3
VT4_11-06-08_07.mp3

Then, in your format clock, add a %H item to each GetPlay line, which causes Command Center to get the file for not only the correct date, but also the correct Hour...as shown below:

•   Examples:
  
  # GetPlay /boot/Station/Programs/VT1_%D_%H.mp3
  
  # GetPlay /boot/Station/Programs/VT2_%D_%H.mp3
  
  # GetPlay /boot/Station/Programs/VT3_%D_%H.mp3
  
  # GetPlay /boot/Station/Programs/VT4_%D_%H.mp3
  
  

If you used nothing but those same four lines repeatedly for your voice tracks, all day long, every day, and named your voice track filenames properly, that's all that would be necessary to cause Command Center to retrieve and play the correct files for each day and each hour, all day long.


European-Style Date Option (and use with TimeTracker)

If you prefer using European-style dates for your file names, make one minor change in your GetPlay syntax. Instead of using %D, make it lower case: %d. Command Center will then look for file names containing dates structured like this: 2010-03-31 or 20100331

Since TimeTracker background recording software uses the Euro-style dates in file names when saving out files sequentially, you'll need to use the lower case %d approach when using GetPlay to play back those files.


Volume Boost Feature

GetPlay has the added benefit of providing you with a way to boost or reduce the playback volume of any audio file, regardless of whether there's a date in it.

•   Examples:
  
  # GetPlay +3 /boot/Station/Programs/MorningWorship.mp3
  
  # GetPlay +7 /boot/Station/Weather/DownloadedEveningForecast.mp3
  
  # GetPlay -4 /boot/Station/Programs/DailyCommentary_%D.mp3
  
  

As shown in the examples above, simply adding a number value will cause Command Center to either increase or decrease the playback volume of a track, and it works with files that don't have %D (date) or %H (hour) information in their filenames. The acceptable numbers range from +10 (double volume) to -10 (volume turned all the way down...not normally very useful unless you want to program silence!)



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