The beauty of QuickTime as a platform, besides its incredible clarity, is that the QuickTime player does not permit the saving of streaming songs or other streaming audio. This protects artists’ content and allows you to remain in compliance with the United States streaming laws. However, if your listener is interested in a particular song and your clips have URLs to the iTunes Store they can click through to purchase the song or other audio for immediate download. Some tuner

A rules compliant playlist is created from any playlist window by inserting rotation or template items into the playlist. This may be done by clicking the ROTATION button, which permits you to select the additional item as music, commercial or station ID item. The backboneServer automatically chooses an appropriate item conforming to the pre-selected rules and inserts it into the selected location in the playlist. Each time the playlist is generated, a new set of items take t

If your Macintosh running OnAirStudio or OnAirDisplay to program your station take an electrical hit your station will automatically switch into automated programming mode and will continue uninterrupted. In the rare case where the power is interrupted on the backboneServer, on restart the Server will automatically restart and continue programming from where it was scheduled. The OnAirDisplay client is only required to run if you want to change the programming of your statio

From within the OnAirDisplay application, simply press the “Live” button. This switches the station into live mode without waiting for the current item to stop playing.

Schedules are made by adding playlists in the OnAirStudio application. This can be done either as a playlist is created, or after. The OnAirStudio application automatically sequences playlists according to their start time, and repeats that schedule until it is changed by the station operator.

Backbone Radio is provided as Software as a Service (SaaS). We have simplified Internet radio production for the professional broadcaster. We take care of the technical part of broadcasting, enabling live remotes, radio automation, setting up the servers, managing connections and logging. You can focus on your content. When you sign up for our service you are provided with two applications to run on your Macintosh(es) that control your station. It is really easy to set up a

Why not every stream is a station. Stations are production environments; channels are synchronized delivery endpoints - separating them is the key to scale and monetization. Some audio experiences are full programming services: they need automation, segments, sponsor inventory, and control. Others are simply a feed that needs to be delivered reliably and in sync. Treating everything the same wastes resources and complicates operations. The Stations vs Channels model is a prac

The three-layer model: Contribution, Production, Distribution The Virtual Audio Backbone is a three-layer architecture that separates ingest, programming, and synchronized delivery so each can scale independently. A venue needs to capture audio (from announcers, accessibility commentators, or other sources), turn it into programs (stations), and deliver it to fans in real time. If those functions are tangled together, the system is hard to scale and hard to operate. If they a

How a venue keeps thousands of devices aligned Synchronization is the capability that turns many individual phones into one audience experience. If two people sitting next to each other hear different moments, the system feels broken. Synchronization is what makes the crowd react together. Synchronization is not an afterthought; it is a primary design objective in venue audio. The system must keep device playback within a tight timing window while operating over variable netw

Why low latency without resilience is fragile A single ultra-low-latency path can look fast in demos and fail in real venues; deterministic systems design resilience alongside latency. A solution can be very fast when everything goes well. But in a packed stadium, wireless conditions change minute by minute. If the system depends on one path (only Wi-Fi or only cellular), a brief disruption can cause dropouts or sudden buffering. Fans do not care why - they only know it faile

Why 'when it arrives' is not good enough in a stadium Internet streaming is probabilistic - venue audio must be deterministic enough to keep thousands of listeners aligned. Most streaming systems deliver audio whenever the network manages to deliver it. That is fine when you are listening alone. In a stadium, you are listening in public next to thousands of other people. If your phone is even half a second behind your neighbor's phone, you will notice. Determinism is the diff