Excellent point. I've evaluated RD against most commercial offerings and
Rivendell really stands up and exceeds.
What Rivendell provides - above other solutions - is the ability to interface
to almost anything. It is open, flexible, and stable.
We are testing Rivendell in a News/Talk capacity and I am amazed. Especially
with the ease of using the system once you set it up.
In my opinion as a commercial radio station owner, Rivendell is not a "me too"
free version of software - it is a top notch system.
As for Linux - that is a major plus. My risk of virus can be minimized and
stability increased.
There are a few areas that could be developed to top the industry in features,
such as:
1. Remote Voicetracking
2. Simplified Remote control GPIO (it's there - a configuration module would be
nice)
3. Ability to tie Macro carts to stop/start events behind the scenes (to mute
satellite audio automagically when playing stop sets)
4. Simplified dynamic GPIO mapping in a grid capacity such as what is done for
Clocks.
5. An "easy button" for WAN or double-redundant audio distribution
Those aren't complaints, just suggestions.
All said, this is a solid piece of software regardless of price.
Brian
--
Brian P. McGlynn
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 5, 2013, at 9:45 AM, Alan Peterson <apeter...@radioamerica.org> wrote:
> Hello all; I'm just back from a stimulating weekend in New York City,
> addressing college radio students at the annual conference for the
> Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS). One of my workshops - "Run Your
> Entire Station on Free Software" - was accompanied by a weekend-long running
> demo of Rivendell (the RRABUNTU version) on a refurbed HP dual-core computer
> I picked up for $135. The machine was propped up on a table in the common
> area, a short 12-minute looping music & promo log was loaded up (as were a
> dozen or so goofy sound effects and popular movie soundbites on the Panel),
> and a sign beckoned students and advisors alike to click away at anything
> they wanted to.
>
> There were some objections, of course ("No one knows anything about Linux",
> "The IT people wouldn't let us connect this up", "We're happy with Simian",
> etc) but needless to say, folks were interested. Watch for a spurt of
> downloads over the next couple of weeks to addresses ending in "edu".
>
> There are a number of positives to be considered when using Rivendell in an
> academic setting -- not the least of which is that today's youngsters are
> used to free software and apps: First, there's always going to be an
> enthusiastic penguin-head somewhere on campus who can be tapped as a tech
> guru (give him his own copy of RD and a pizza, then watch the fun begin);
> Second, student radio stations cannot always swing thou$andS to buy a
> commercial system and so end up using WinAmp or the iTunes player as their
> audio management system. Knowing that an Open Source pro-level system is
> available, they will be interested; and Third, colleges everywhere have
> pallets full of retired computers from other departments (considered "too
> slow to run Windows"), piled up and waiting for surplus sale or recycling.
> Ask the department in charge if they'd send three of the old junkers over to
> the station for free -- preferably dual-core or better. All that remains is
> the sweat portion: load RD an
d
> music, hook into the LAN and go.
>
> Since I am invited to this conference every year, RD will now be making the
> trip along with me every time. And I encourage any users who read and post to
> this discussion to make a case for it at an educational venue near you.
>
> -AP
> _______________________________________________
> Rivendell-dev mailing list
> Rivendell-dev@lists.rivendellaudio.org
> http://lists.rivendellaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/rivendell-dev
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