Radio Broadcast Software Compared
I’m very fortunate that I’ve worked with some high-end radio software, and also some not so high-end glamorous radio software.
I’ve tried to use ZaraFree Radio software, and it’s pretty much a fancy Windows Media Player, and I got frustrated and lost, because there just weren’t any features.
I’ve come up the ranks using Master Control, NexGen, and also Zetta (which I have to say is my favourite of the expensive softwares), and even used Player101 too.
More recently, I’ve been working with StationPlaylist as well and deploying that across multiple locations as stand alone installs – and they work really well. It’s a budget friendly system that serves it’s purpose very well.
All of these radio softwares have different strengths and weaknesses, and all have a different target market. Some are free, cheap, others are expensive, and some the middle of the road.
Here is a little comparison of the basic features. Hopefully it helps you make the right choice. (Apologies for the formatting)
| Feature | Zara Free |
Zara Studio |
Master Control |
NexGen | Zetta | Player101 | Station Playlist |
RadioDJ |
| O.S. | Windows | Windows | Windows | Windows | Windows | Windows | Windows | Windows |
| Automation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Live | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Crossfade | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced Crossfade1 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes2 | No |
| Native VT | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IVT | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Uses Multi-channel Audio Cards | Unknown | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Time Stretch and Squeeze | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited | No |
| Visual Cue Editor | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Type of Servers | None | None | MSSQL | Windows Server | MSSQL | None | None | MySQL/ MariaDB |
| Recommended Computers required | Stand alone | Stand alone | 3+ | 2+ | 3+ | Stand alone | Stand alone | 1+ |
| On Air Redundancy | None | None | Yes | Yes | Yes | None | None | None |
| Network use | None | None | Yes | Yes | Yes | None | Yes7 | Yes |
| Full Control over network |
None | None | Yes | Yes | Yes | None | None | Unknown |
| Designed for Radio | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hotkey Carts | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Basic Scheduling | None | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced Scheduling3 | None | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Auto Playlist Creation | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Support | None | Unknown | 24/75 | 24/75 | 24/75 | 24/76 | Within 24hrs | Unknown |
| Support | None | Unknown | Phone/ |
Phone/ |
Phone/ |
Phone/ |
Email or Yahoo Group |
Forum |
| Cost | Free | $ | $$$$$4 | $$$$$4 | $$$$$4 | $$$ | $$ | Free |
| Cost Method | Free | p/lic. | p/seat | p/seat | p/seat | p/seat | p/lic. | Free |
| Licence Type | Free | Buyout | Annual | Annual | Annual | N/A | Buyout | Free |
| For sale | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | EOL | Yes | No |
| Typical Market | Small | Small | Major | Major | Major | Small/ medium |
Small/ medium |
Small |
| Typical ‘Maintenance’ For Best results |
Minimal | Minimal | Daily | Daily | Daily | Weekly | Minimal | Minimal |
| Feature Set | Very Low | Minimal | High | High | Insanely High |
Medium | Medium | Minimal |
| Country Of Origin | Spain | Spain | USA | USA | USA | USA | NZ | Romanian |
| Latest Release | 2006 | 2014 Sept | 2015 October | 2014 Sept | 2015 October | 2008 August | 2015 November | 2015 October |
| Overall Rating |
* | * | **** | **** | ***** | ** | *** | ** |
| Sold by | Kero Systems S.L. | RCS | StationPlaylist | radiodj | ||||
1 Ids of songs and VTs ducking crossfading.
2 StationPlaylist Pro
3 Full Day part and hour restrictions.
4 If you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.
5 Immediately
6 Immediately with an optional support contract
7 Scheduling can happen on a separate computer, over a network.
8 All Workstations can connect and alter the live program.
There is also Rivendell broadcast software too that is worth a look that is open source that runs on linux.
If you would like to buy Station Playlist, support me, and purchase from here. If you buy more than 1 copy, you’ll get a discount too!
