NPR Digital Services Blog

We have added a new, easy way to export a single playlist in tab-delimited text format from Composer Pro.

Handy if you need to move a playlist to another date. Simply export the playlist, make a few quick edits if needed (e.g, date and times) and easily re-import this file on the correct date. This also comes in handy if you want to copy a playlist.

• Go to Add/Edit a Playlist
• Edit your playlist.
• In the upper right, you’ll see an Export Playlist Button 
• Click this button, and it will export the file in tab-delimited text .txt format.
• You’ll see a link that says:  Click on this link to view your report. Follow the directions to save the file to your desktop.
• Open the file in Excel, make any necessary edits.
• Save as tab-delimited text .txt format, and then import on a different date.

Did you miss today’s Composer Pro playlist training? Never fear, here are the slides used today. Learn about

• Adding Playlists
• Searching the Song Database
• Importing playlists
• Dealing with Duplicate Playlists
• Lost playlists
• More!

Download the slides

We’re going to try to edit and upload the full webinar recording as well. Stay tuned…

When adding or editing your playlists using Composer Pro, you now have the option to search the Song Database in two ways. In the Manage Playlists section, when adding a song to your playlist, you can:

1. Search our station’s database: This searches for songs entered by anyone at your station only. HINT: Much faster search.
2. Search the full database: This searches the entire song database which contains songs entered by all stations. More comprehensive, but also slower.
3. Add Songs Manually: This option is still available. HINT: It helps you build your database. Add song manually once, then search for it the next time.

Then proceed as usual.

• Enter at least one character in both the Name and Song Title fields.
• Click the Search for Song button at the bottom of the page. The system searches and displays all matches.

How do I import a playlist file? Why isn’t my playlist showing up online? Find out this and more at the Composer Pro webinar. This one is good for program hosts who are entering playlists.

Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Time: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST

We’ll focus on reviewing how to create and edit your program guide, demonstrate program change scenarios, share best practices with you, and answer questions you may have. If you have specific questions, please share them with us ahead of time. And yes, it’s free to our clients.

Space is limited!
Please Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/250170617

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Here’s some background on how searching for your Composer Pro playlists works.

Listener Search:
Listeners can search for playlists for up to 30 days at a time. They can set the date range for those 30 day periods as they choose.

Admin Search:

Logged into Composer Pro

Stations can search their entire playlist archive, you just need to log in to Composer Pro first. Once you’re logged in, you can  search for all the playlists for a particular program, going back to day one.

• Log into Composer Pro Admin.
• Click ‘View your Guide’ in the upper right corner.
• Click search playlists. Near the top of the screen, you’ll see a small green bullet ‘You are logged in as yourusername’
• Now when you search, you’ll be able to see all the playlist results.

We’re planning some more Composer Pro training webinars for you over the next few months. The next one will focus on working with playlists.

Please tell us what you want us to cover, such as specific scenarios for importing or exporting playlist information, and we’ll do our best to include your questions in the trainings.

Don’t be shy!

Having troubles importing a playlist file? It happens. Here are some things to check on.

• Make sure the header row is labeled correctly, e.g., SONG_TITLE or TITLE, not song.  Header name are noted in your Composer Admin -> Documentation -> Import a playlist.
• Make sure time is formatted HH:MM:SS, and please use military time, no AM or PM.
• Make sure file is a tab-delimited .txt file (or .asc if exporting from Music Master), not .xls, .xlsx, .doc or other format file.
• Extra columns: Occasionally, when working in Excel, you can inadvertently add extra phantom columns by accidentally adding a character where you didn’t mean to. Sometimes opening the file, deleting next few empty columns and resaving will clear that up.
• Character limits: Perhaps you’re exceeding the character limits for a field.  This is less common.
• Still won’t import?  Send it to us at help AT publicinteractive.com, and we’ll take a look.

So what’s the difference between the two, besides cost?  Composer Basic, is, well, a very basic, stripped-down version of Composer Pro. It’s used to submit your data for SoundExchange reporting only, and it doesn’t come with any display options, templates, feeds or widgets. See the side by side comparison here.

In short, with Composer Basic, you can:

• Update reporting contact and stream information.
• Upload playlist and/or streaming log files.
• Choose your reporting periods.
• Access completed SoundExchange reports.
• Enter your weekly program schedule, so we can integrate syndicated playlist information into your SoundExchange reports.
• That’s it.

Composer Pro includes all the SoundExchange reporting features listed above, plus many more. Which one is best? Well, I favor Pro of course, but I’m biased.

• Create and maintain dynamic and fully searchable program guides
• Display viewable and searchable playlists on your website

This sometimes happens, usually when you’re entering playlists manually, rather than importing a file into Composer Pro. Usually, it’s still in there somewhere. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

• Is it definitely lost? Go to your live program guide, and search for the playlist that way to verify that it’s missing. NOTE: If the start time has not passed, the playlist will not be found.
• Did you make your playlist live? If you’re entering song by song, be sure to click the ‘Make Live’ button. We recommend clicking ‘Make Live’ after you enter the first song.
• Did you recently delete the program? If so, your playlist is probably still in the system, it’s just been ‘orphaned‘. Let us know the name of the program and the air time, and most likely, we can find your playlist and re-associate it with the program. NOTE: Please use the delete program function sparingly, we recommend editing your program and adding an end date instead.

With Composer Pro, you can enter playlist info before, during, or after your show. You’ll find more detailed instructions in our user guide.

Enter Songs Manually

• You can enter song information, one at a time, using our web interface. This works particularly well if you add songs as you go during your show.
• Click Add/Edit playlist, and follow the steps to add songs.
• When adding songs, you can search for the song in database, or enter it manually.
• Be sure to click the ‘Make Playlist Live’ button after you enter the first song.

Importing Playlist Info

Often, it’s faster to import a playlist file. You can import playlists one at a time, or import all the playlists for one day from one file.  When importing a playlist, first create an importable playlist file using Microsoft Excel, a text editor like Notepad or export from compatible Scheduling Software.