[CMA] Best Online Radio Automation Software

[CMA-L]

Fwd:

From: "Grant Francis" <grant.francis at encosystems.co.uk>

Hi Everyone,

Myriad is indeed a great product that "does the job", however for your
own peace of mind you should consider the pros and cons offered by all
of the professional automation providers.

The first thing to consider is support:

How much support will you get from the creators of a free product?
Experience with free software says that the support is limited and can
often lead to long periods of "dark times".

By using professional software, you should look at the additional costs
involved, if the software itself is discounted, how much are the calls
to the technical support line, not in regards the cost of the actual
telephone connection, but the cost of the time to  speak to a technician
at the other end.

Does the software provider offer monthly support "packages" that cover
unlimited / un-timed telephone calls during office hours or optionally
24hrs? Alternatively do they offer different tiers of support that cost
varying amounts and are therefore not clear cut (and could end up making
a significant impact on the total cost of ownership of the software).

How much, if required, is an on-site visit. Are the costs involved
transparent, or are there hidden "time brackets" which will increase the
initial price?

Secondly consider development and what the software provider's goals
are:

Does the company specialise in 1 aspect, pushing their resources into
that one area of development, and therefore offering the "best in
breed".

Are they committed to development, are the views and ideas of the users
incorporated into frequent software updates?

Thirdly hardware is always a huge consideration when choosing an audio
delivery system:

Does the hardware conform to professional standards?

Are the sound cards professional balanced units and at what cost?

Does the hardware come with a manufacturer's next business day
repair/replace agreement?

What kind of critical data backup is provided as standard? (You
certainly don't want to lose your commercial revenue)

Consider the ease of use and how configurable the system is:

Can the system be configured to deliver audio in a manner that you are
truly comfortable with?

Does the product empower the user to give them the choice of how they
work?

Does the system offer control of external devices? Equally, can the
system be controlled by external devices and applications?

Does the system offer multiple user profile support (e.g. a different
setup for breakfast/drive/news/evening/freelance etc.)

Finally the cost:

Is the software discounted for community, education and charity based
broadcasters?

In addition to licensing options, is the product available as "buyout"
allowing you to stay in control of your finances?

Does the provider offer other services, such as training?

There are many automation systems available to the community market,
Myriad being just one of them. Consider and get demos from everyone (ask
for a live online demo of an already operating system), including RCS,
Broadcast Bionics, Dalet and ENCO so you can be sure you are making the
correct choice. Some systems are great for some applications, some will
enable you to raise your station and technical capabilities above and
beyond your expectations. It's far better to be "limited by your
imagination" than "limited by your system".

Kind regards,

Grant Francis
Client Liaison Manager
ENCO Systems

T - 01243 389222
E - grant.francis at encosystems.co.uk


-----Original Message-----
From: cma-l-bounces at commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of CMA-L
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 1:25 PM
To: askhan at london.edu; 'CMA-L'
Subject: Re: [CMA] Best Online Radio Automation Software

Hi Abdullah

This is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question to which
there are no right answers - though possibly some wrong ones...

I usually recommend that community stations try out a free radio
automation system first - mAirlist (http://www.mairlist.com/en/) comes
highly recommended - to see what features you specifically need before
spending possibly thousands of pounds on a particular application.

If you Google for "radio automation" you will get many results and it is
possible to download demo versions of some systems.

PSquared offer generous discounts to the community radio sector and
their Myriad system is very well thought of.

I'm sure that there may be many further contributions to this thread.

Hope that helps and best regards

Bill Best