Issue

Radio stations often receive syndicated shows via shared Dropbox links from content producers and need a reliable, automatic method to add these to their playout system without manual intervention.

Solution

PlayIt Live's Monitored Folders feature provides an elegant solution for automatically importing syndicated shows from services like Dropbox. Here's how to set it up:

Step 1: Access your Dropbox shared folder

  1. When a syndicated content producer shares a Dropbox link with you, accept the share invitation.

  2. The shared folder will appear in your Dropbox account

  3. Ensure you have the Dropbox desktop application installed (https://www.dropbox.com/install) and syncing properly to your PlayIt Live computer.

  4. Verify that the shared folder is fully synced to your local computer.

Step 2: Configure a Monitored Folder in PlayIt Live

  1. In PlayIt Live, go to Manage > Monitored Folders.

  2. Click Add New.

  3. In the Edit Monitored Folder window:

    • Path: Browse to your local Dropbox folder where the syndicated shows are shared (e.g., C:\Users\YourUsername\Dropbox\Show Name).

    • Include sub-folders: Leave this unticked.

    • Analyse cue points: Tick this.

    • Re-analyse cue points: Tick this.

    • Update track fields: Tick to automatically update track details from file metadata when files are updated.

    • Delete tracks: Leave this unticked. This ensures that if the file is temporarily removed from the Dropbox,. Playit Live does not remove the track (and the link to it) from the database.

    • Add tracks to track group: Select a track group or create a new one (e.g., "Show Name") to automatically organise the imported content.

Step 3: Schedule the syndicated content using Clocks

Since syndicated shows typically use consistent filenames week to week, you can easily schedule them using Track items in clocks:

  1. Go to Manage > Clocks and either create a new clock or edit an existing one.

  2. Add a Track item to your clock.

  3. Select the syndicated show track from your database.

  4. When the clock is scheduled and the playout log is generated, the track will be included at the appropriate time.

Important Notes

  • When the content producer updates the file in their Dropbox (using the same filename), the file will automatically sync to your computer.

  • PlayIt Live's Monitored Folder will detect this change and update the track in its database.

  • Since your clocks reference the track, the updated content will automatically be used in your scheduled playout log without any manual intervention.