How can I automatically import playlists from external schedulers into PlayIt Live?

You can automate playlist imports from external schedulers (such as Music 1, GSelector, etc.) using the Insert External Log/Playlist action in Scheduled Events. This allows PlayIt Live to automatically load your scheduler's exported logs without manual intervention.

Setting up automatic imports:

First, configure your scheduler to export files to a specific folder using a consistent date-based naming pattern, such as 2025-01-15.pipl or 2025-01-15.m3u. PlayIt Live supports both the PlayIt Playout Log Format (PIPL) and M3U playlist format. PIPL is recommended as it's a more standardised format that includes timing information, reconciliation data, and segue settings, whereas M3U is simply a list of file paths.

Next, go to Manage > Scheduled Events in PlayIt Live and click Add New. Give your event a descriptive name like "Import Daily Music Log" and set the trigger to Daily at a time when your scheduler has finished generating the next day's schedule (such as 2am).

Click the [+] button to add an action and select Insert External Log/Playlist. Choose the folder option and point it to where your scheduler exports the files. Set the date pattern to match your export naming convention using dynamic date parts like %yyyy%-%MM%-%dd%.pipl (the percent signs are required).

Choose where you want the imported log to be inserted, typically at the start of the next hour or start of the next day depending on your workflow.

Available dynamic date parts:

• %yy% - 2 digit year
• %yyyy% - 4 digit year
• %M% - Month of year (e.g. 6)
• %MM% - Month of year, zero-padded (e.g. 06)
• %MMM% - Abbreviated month name (e.g. Jun)
• %MMMM% - Full month name (e.g. June)
• %d% - Day of month (e.g. 3)
• %dd% - Day of month, zero-padded (e.g. 03)
• %ddd% - Abbreviated day name (e.g. Sat)
• %dddd% - Full day name (e.g. Saturday)
• %H% - Hour of day in 24-hour clock (e.g. 7)
• %HH% - Hour of day in 24-hour clock, zero-padded (e.g. 07)
• %h% - Hour of day in 12-hour clock (e.g. 7)
• %hh% - Hour of day in 12-hour clock, zero-padded (e.g. 07)
• %tt% - AM/PM designator (e.g. PM)

This automated approach allows your external scheduler to continue handling complex music scheduling, rotations, and specialty programming whilst PlayIt Live manages playout and automation. The full PIPL specification is available at https://pipl.playitsoftware.com/