Airtime News

Airtime 2.3.1 released with bug fixes and security improvements

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:36:25 +0100

The Airtime calendar view for Sourcefabric FM, our team radio station.

Airtime 2.3.1 is out now and provides a stability and security upgrade to the last version released in February.

Airtime allows radio stations to be programmed and streamed through an easy web interface and can be downloaded and installed on GNU/Linux platforms like Ubuntu and Debian, or used via Sourcefabric's web-hosted Airtime Pro service.

Airtime 2.3 was released for World Radio Day and has an interface translated into 11 languages and the option for users to add new translations. Icecast and SHOUTcast listener statistics are now available too, as are automatically set cue-points and ReplayGain improvements.

Huge thanks to the amazing Airtime community who have been helping to test and zap bugs.

What's new?

Multiple bug fixes
Security fixes with running unescaped shell commands
Fixed backend services not coming back online if RabbitMQ crashed and then restarted
Uninstall now properly cleans system
Improved Services watchdog (test whether Services are running and responding, not just running)
Much faster library import (Silan analyzer runs in background)
Fixed zombie process sometimes being created
Upgraded to Mutagen (tag reader) 1.21

Airtime has four live-assist modes, an intelligent audio library and calendar, and a Now Playing dashboard that allows tracks to be dragged-and-dropped on-the-fly into a playing schedule. Professional needs are catered for with WAV, FLAC and AAC support, plus ReplayGain which helps to normalise volume output.

Check out all the Airtime features.

In addition to those, the Airtime 2.3 series offers the following improvements...

The interface is now available in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Czech.
Stations can now translate the interface themselves.
Listener Statistics allow stations streaming on the web via Icecast & Shoutcast to track how many people are tuned into the station.
Airtime scans newly imported tracks for leading/trailing silence and automatically sets cue points to avoid silence.
ReplayGain, a tool that enables all audio to be broadcast at a consistent volume level can now be switched on and off, plus offset in real-time.
Liquidsoap memory footprint improvements mean better streaming performance.
There is a new user management page for non-admin users.

To see all 250 changes, check the changelog. Special thanks to Luciano De Fazio, Sebastian Matuszewski and Albert Bruc for contributing localizations!

Check out the manual to see how you can get more out of Airtime!

Airtime 2.3 goes global for World Radio Day with localizable interface

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:41:35 +0100

The Airtime calendar view for Sourcefabric FM, our team radio station.

Airtime 2.3, our open source radio software released for World Radio Day, has an interface now translated into 11 languages and the option for users to add new translations. Icecast and SHOUTcast listener statistics are now available too, as are automatically set cue-points and ReplayGain improvements.

Check out all the Airtime features.

In addition to those, Airtime 2.3 offers the following improvements...

The interface is now available in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Czech.
Stations can now translate the interface themselves.
Listener Statistics allow stations streaming on the web via Icecast & Shoutcast to track how many people are tuned into the station.
Airtime scans newly imported tracks for leading/trailing silence and automatically sets cue points to avoid silence.
ReplayGain, a tool that enables all audio to be broadcast at a consistent volume level can now be switched on and off, plus offset in real-time.
Liquidsoap memory footprint improvements mean better streaming performance.
There is a new user management page for non-admin users.

To see all 250 changes, check the changelog. Special thanks to Luciano De Fazio, Sebastian Matuszewski and Albert Bruc for contributing localizations!

Check out the manual to see how you can get more out of Airtime!

Airtime 2.2.1 improves audio streams, fades and smart blocks

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:01:49 +0100

Streams can be utilised in many different ways in Airtime 2.2.1.

Airtime 2.2.1 has been released with a number of fixes to improve the performance and stability of streaming and Smart Blocks.

Streaming was a major focus of the 2.2 release. Airtime can rebroadcast incoming streams including smartphone applications and web streams from other web sites. This connection can be automatic or manual, or external streams can be scheduled in the application's calendar, as can live shows. Fading between streams is now smoother in Airtime 2.2.1 and issues with stream connection and preview have been resolved.

Airtime's new Smart Blocks have also been tweaked. Smart Blocks let DJs and Station Managers choose a block of time and fill it with audio according to parameters like genre or upload date. Airtime 2.2.1 makes this even more powerful with 'and' 'or' connectors that allow complex sets of rules to be built.

Here's the full list of fixes...

Improved fades between webstreams
Fix webstreams disconnecting occasionally
Added 'and' and 'or' connectors between smart blocks
Preview webstreams in the Now Playing page improved for all browsers
airtime-import script now works for FLAC files
DJs can no longer delete files they don't own
Support added for 'x-scpls' webstream playlist types
media-monitor no longer requires a restart for initial import

What else is in Airtime 2.2.1?

Live in 3, 2, 1...

Four live assist modes now exist in Airtime. DJs can rebroadcast incoming streams managed by a source switcher which manually, or automatically, connects to the correct source (and fades between them). Users can configure remote live input streams from DJ programs such as Mixxx or IDJC, or smartphone applications used by broadcast journalists. Additionally, they can schedule these streams in the calendar, or schedule a 'live' show which records from the computer's line-in.

Smart Blocks.

Requested by users more than any other feature, the new Smart Blocks let users enter parameters (like genre or time last played) for a playlist and Airtime will populate that block randomly according to those conditions, before playing it out at an allotted time.

Improved library.

The library has also been overhauled, with huge performance increases on import and improved search. Users can also drag and drop tracks directly from the library into the Now Playing list to instantly edit playout on-the-fly.

Other great improvements.

WAV, FLAC and AAC support, plus ReplayGain to normalize volume output.
User ownership of files to help stations with multiple DJs
Rescan watched folders button (useful for network drives where keeping in sync is more difficult).
Stereo/mono streams.

Resources

Airtime 2.2 makes radio smarter with dynamic playlists and live assist

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:41:47 +0100

Take control of your radio station with Airtime

Airtime has been released in version 2.2. Airtime is our free, web-based software for Debian or Linux that lets radio stations, media organisations and businesses run a radio station via the web and broadcast it online or on air.

Airtime Pro is our cloud-hosted service which upgrades users to new versions before anyone else and takes care of installation, updates and security.

What's new in 2.2?

Live in 3, 2, 1...

Work smarter.

Improved library.

Over 500 fixes and improvements.

Amongst 500 bug fixes and improvements, other new features include:

WAV, FLAC and AAC support, plus ReplayGain to normalize volume output.
User ownership of files to help stations with multiple DJs
Rescan watched folders button (useful for network drives where keeping in sync is more difficult).
Stereo/mono streams.

Resources

Give us feedback!

What do you think of Airtime 2.2? Let us know in the forum , on Twitter, or on the Facebook page.

Oh, and before you go... why not like Airtime on Facebook?

Airtime 2.1.3 fixes improve playout, widget and stream performance

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:51:31 +0100

Airtime 2.1.3 has been released with a number of fixes improving performance of the playout engine, jQuery widgets and streams. This third hotfix for the popular 2.1 series was driven and tested by great feedback from the open source radio community.

Airtime Pro users have been upgraded automatically. Self-hosted users should follow these guides to either install or upgrade.

Here are this release's headlines:

Fixed playout engine occasionally quitting after changes to Stream Settings page
Fixed jQuery widgets not showing the incorrectly showing the past Sunday on Sunday
Fixed dragging and dropping tracks into a live show, which could cause to web UI to become unsynchronized from what is actually playing
Fixed inability to receive mono streams for Master or Show source rebroadcasts
Fixed SoundCloud uploads not working for some users

So what's new in the Airtime 2.1 series? Read on to see more about the new features...

Real-time show editing

Basic FM in the studio with Airtime

In the Now Playing and Calendar screens, DJs can now edit their shows in real-time even while they're on air. Doing last second changes to your schedule before (or during) any track is as simple as using the web interface to drag and drop your tracks to the desired destination. Tracks no longer require placement inside of a playlist to be scheduled - you may know simply drag the track directly into a show. You can also edit the length of the show.

Add/Remove/Rearrange tracks within a show, even if it is currently playing
See at a glance which tracks are inside the show, which are on the show boundary, and which are outside the show
Cut all tracks that are outside the show's boundary
Edit the length of a show that is currently playing

Live stream rebroadcasting

With this feature, you can connect to Airtime via remote broadcasting tools such as Mixxx, Virtual DJ etc. and Airtime will rebroadcast the stream. You can also use the calendar to impose limits on what date and time streams should be rebroadcast. Two live streams can be connected to Airtime: DJ stream and Master stream.

DJ stream can connect to Airtime and override the scheduled playout
Master stream can connect to Airtime and override the DJ stream and the scheduled playout.

Live Streams are activated in the main interface and the interface displays which stream is being outputted.

Improved audio library

You spoke, we listened. Managing the Airtime media library is now much simpler thanks to various improvements including being able to select multiple items before dragging and dropping, as well as being able to customize which metadata columns are visible. It is now also possible to see the date a media item was uploaded.

Perform bulk actions including "Add to Playlist", "Add to Show", and "Delete File."
Choose which columns to display and the order of the columns
Sort by multiple columns (including a new a "Date Uploaded" column)Display any metadata in the list
Editing metadata in the library will update the metadata on disk
Library is automatically refreshed when media import is finished

Playout History Log

For those in need of a simpler way to keep track of what has been played, a Playout History log is now available in the Web UI, which will be useful for royalty reporting purposes no doubt...

Track previews

Users can now seek to a specific part of a track, and can also listen to all tracks in a playlist or show back-to-back.

Media Monitor improvements

We've added support for network and USB drives and made the following improvements.

Removing a watched directory and adding it again preserves playlists & shows with those files.An icon in the playlist shows whether a file is missing on disk, warning the user that the playlist will not go according to plan.Media monitor detects add and removal of watched temporary local storage (USB disks for example) and network drives.

Other improvements

For those who love attention to detail, we also made this list of minor improvements:

Ability to turn off the broadcast.
Password reset - user can request a password reset if they forgot it.
Overbooked shows now fade out properly
Default fade time set to 0.5 of a second
Repeating shows default to "No End"
Ability to "View on SoundCloud" for recorded shows in the calendar"
Listen preview player no longer falls behind the broadcast (you can only mute the stream now, not stop it)
Tracks that cannot be played will be rejected on upload and put in to the directory "/srv/airtime/store/problem_files" (but currently it will not tell you that it rejected them - sorry!)
Reduced CPU utilization for OGG streams
New command line utilities: 'airtime-test-soundcard' to verify that the soundcard is working and 'airtime-test-icecast' to verify that you can connect to an Icecast server

Huge thanks and credit goes to the entire Airtime community who did an amazing job of suggesting these features, helping us to blueprint them and then tested, tested and tested till they were ready to be included!

Airtime 2.1.2 hotfix ready to go

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 10:45:47 +0100

Airtime 2.1.2 is out today and is the second hotfix for this Airtime release, which makes some improvements and bugfixes in response to some great community feedback.

The Airtime 2.1 series brings extra live and real-time capabilities to independent broadcasters everywhere. Taking on board community feedback, we've added real-time show editing and live stream rebroadcasting, improved the audio library, and added a whole host of other features that give greater flexibility and power to anyone working with radio or audio.

Download Airtime 2.1.2
Try the online demo

Want Sourcefabric to install and host Airtime for you? Check out Airtime Pro.

So what's new in the Airtime 2.1 series? Read on to see more about the new features...

Real-time show editing

Basic FM in the studio with Airtime

Add/Remove/Rearrange tracks within a show, even if it is currently playing
See at a glance which tracks are inside the show, which are on the show boundary, and which are outside the show
Cut all tracks that are outside the show's boundary
Edit the length of a show that is currently playing

Live stream rebroadcasting

DJ stream can connect to Airtime and override the scheduled playout
Master stream can connect to Airtime and override the DJ stream and the scheduled playout.

Live Streams are activated in the main interface and the interface displays which stream is being outputted.

Improved audio library

Perform bulk actions including "Add to Playlist", "Add to Show", and "Delete File."
Choose which columns to display and the order of the columns
Sort by multiple columns (including a new a "Date Uploaded" column)Display any metadata in the list
Editing metadata in the library will update the metadata on disk
Library is automatically refreshed when media import is finished

Playout History Log

For those in need of a simpler way to keep track of what has been played, a Playout History log is now available in the Web UI, which will be useful for royalty reporting purposes no doubt...

Track previews

Users can now seek to a specific part of a track, and can also listen to all tracks in a playlist or show back-to-back.

Media Monitor improvements

We've added support for network and USB drives and made the following improvements.

Other improvements

For those who love attention to detail, we also made this list of minor improvements:

Ability to turn off the broadcast.
Password reset - user can request a password reset if they forgot it.
Overbooked shows now fade out properly
Default fade time set to 0.5 of a second
Repeating shows default to "No End"
Ability to "View on SoundCloud" for recorded shows in the calendar"
Listen preview player no longer falls behind the broadcast (you can only mute the stream now, not stop it)
Tracks that cannot be played will be rejected on upload and put in to the directory "/srv/airtime/store/problem_files" (but currently it will not tell you that it rejected them - sorry!)
Reduced CPU utilization for OGG streams
New command line utilities: 'airtime-test-soundcard' to verify that the soundcard is working and 'airtime-test-icecast' to verify that you can connect to an Icecast server

Turn your iPhone into a radio station with Airtime

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:34:37 +0100

You are the master of all sources. Going live with Airtime and an iPhone.

Update: We've updated this guide now. Check out the new blogpost which includes Android!

Going live could mean many things: Maybe it’s a reporter with a microphone on the scene of breaking news, maybe it’s an announcer in the studio, maybe a DJ selecting tracks live, maybe a band. There are lots of ways to go live.

We listen a lot to what our community members say in the forums, and going live has been one of the most frequent Airtime feature requests. In our usage, this means being able to switch from the prepared playlists on the calendar to a live stream.

Over in the Airtime forums and even in our manuals, we’ve always made a fairly simple assumption: When people need to go live with their program using Airtime, they would be doing so with a PC and a program like Mixxx or IDJC. And for a lot of users, this really does the trick.

For me, though, the holy grail has always been to be able to use my mobile phone as a streaming source. The logic is simple: You always have your phone with you, and it has more than enough power to do the job.

I’m an iPhone owner, and on several occasions I’ve searched through the App Store looking for something that would do the trick - to send a live stream from my iOS device to Airtime for restreaming. The problem is that there are hundreds of apps that _play_ streams from a source, but few to _send_ an MP3 or Ogg stream.

(By the way, if you need a stream player for iOS, I highly recommend Fstream. But I digress.)

Using Papaya Broadcaster

I eventually found one that does what I need. It’s called Papaya Broadcaster ( http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/papaya-broadcaster/id366266882?mt=8 ), and I’ve tested it with Airtime and it works great.

Papaya Broadcaster is a paid app which costs $4.99, but personally I’m OK with that. The setup is fairly straightforward, with fields you have to input only once for your Airtime setup.

Papaya takes whatever is being input from either the built-in microphone or the headphone jack, so you can plug in an external mic, or even plug in another analog audio source (like from a mixing board, another computer’s audio out, a cassette player - whatever you’ve got).

Papaya uses either 3G or wifi connections, but because high-quality audio can use a lot of bandwidth, it’s probably not a good idea to use 3G unless you want to pay high data charges.

The first place to check is in Airtime’s stream settings, which are located in Preferences -> Stream:

Airtime 2.1

In my case, my Papaya setup looks like this:

Name: Airtime
Server:
Port: 8001
Mountpoint: Stream>
Stream name: My Stream
Description:
Genre:
Username: Stream>
Password: Stream>
Codec: mp3 Bitrate: 128
Protocol: Icecast2
Stereo: On
Once you’ve got your settings in place, you can start streaming by pressing the big Play button at the top of the Papaya menu, and then you’re sending a live stream. The setup should look like this:

Papaya for iPhone

The final step is to make the switchover to the live stream from your scheduled play, and you do this by switching the Master Source switch to ‘On’ manually:

Airtime 2.1

And now you’re live from your iOS device on Airtime and Airtime Pro!

Airtime 2.1 brings live capabilities to independent radio

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 11:19:06 +0100

Basic FM in the studio with Airtime in Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Sourcefabric have released Airtime, their software for radio stations, in version 2.1.

Airtime is open source, free to download, runs on Ubuntu and Debian, and users can interact with it through any web browser.

The software now includes real-time show editing and live stream rebroadcasting, plus audio library improvements and a playout history log to keep track of what has been played.

"Airtime 2.1 is a big step forward for open source radio," said Martin Konecny, Airtime's lead developer. "Hundreds of independent radio stations worldwide can now broadcast interviews, concerts or entire shows live with the new live stream rebroadcast feature."

Live stream rebroadcasting allows remote broadcasters to connect to Airtime via tools such as Mixxx or Virtual DJ. Airtime will rebroadcast the stream, either at a set-time, or in the middle of an existing broadcast with a smooth transition.

DJs can also now edit their automated shows in real-time even while they're on air. Last second schedule changes, such as moving or adding a track, are performed with a drag and drop movement using the web interface. A Playout Log detailing the tracks played is also now available - essential for most radio stations' royalty reporting.

Airtime recently won a Guardian Award for Digital Innovation in the category 'best use of technology for social change'. The judges remarked on how Airtime's innovative use of free technology was bringing together different radio and code communities to create a tool that benefitted stations like London's Resonance FM, Dakar's West Africa Democracy Radio and Canada's NationTalk.

Useful links

Airtime 2.1 adds real-time show edit and live stream rebroadcast

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 11:16:45 +0100

Airtime 2.1 is out today and brings extra live and real-time capabilities to independent broadcasters everywhere. Taking on board community feedback, we've added real-time show editing and live stream rebroadcasting, improved the audio library, and added a whole host of other features that give greater flexibility and power to anyone working with radio or audio.

June 14th Update: Airtime 2.1.1 has been released with over 15 bug fixes and improvements!

Download Airtime 2.1.1 for free
Try the online demo

Want Sourcefabric to install and host Airtime for you? Check out Airtime Pro.

So what's new in Airtime 2.1? Read on to see more about the new features...

Real-time show editing

Add/Remove/Rearrange tracks within a show, even if it is currently playing
See at a glance which tracks are inside the show, which are on the show boundary, and which are outside the show
Cut all tracks that are outside the show's boundary
Edit the length of a show that is currently playing

Live stream rebroadcasting

DJ stream can connect to Airtime and override the scheduled playout
Master stream can connect to Airtime and override the DJ stream and the scheduled playout.

Live Streams are activated in the main interface and the interface displays which stream is being outputted.

Improved audio library

Perform bulk actions including "Add to Playlist", "Add to Show", and "Delete File."
Choose which columns to display and the order of the columns
Sort by multiple columns (including a new a "Date Uploaded" column)Display any metadata in the list
Editing metadata in the library will update the metadata on disk
Library is automatically refreshed when media import is finished

Playout History Log

For those in need of a simpler way to keep track of what has been played, a Playout History log is now available in the Web UI, which will be useful for royalty reporting purposes no doubt...

Track previews

Users can now seek to a specific part of a track, and can also listen to all tracks in a playlist or show back-to-back.

Media Monitor improvements

We've added support for network and USB drives and made the following improvements.

Other improvements

For those who love attention to detail, we also made this list of minor improvements:

Ability to turn off the broadcast.
Password reset - user can request a password reset if they forgot it.
Overbooked shows now fade out properly
Default fade time set to 0.5 of a second
Repeating shows default to "No End"
Ability to "View on SoundCloud" for recorded shows in the calendar"
Listen preview player no longer falls behind the broadcast (you can only mute the stream now, not stop it)
Tracks that cannot be played will be rejected on upload and put in to the directory "/srv/airtime/store/problem_files" (but currently it will not tell you that it rejected them - sorry!)
Reduced CPU utilization for OGG streams
New command line utilities: 'airtime-test-soundcard' to verify that the soundcard is working and 'airtime-test-icecast' to verify that you can connect to an Icecast server

Airtime 2.0.3 released, fixes critical security issue

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:42:43 +0100

Radio masts. Credit: Steve Nordby | Flickr CC BY-NC

Airtime 2.0.3 has been released in order to fix security issues. The issues relate to pypo permissions and monit permissions and are deemed critical. Upgrade is strongly recommended for users on all versions of Airtime.

Airtime 2.0.x versions support upgrading from version 1.8.0 and above. If you are running a production server with a version of Airtime prior to 1.8.0, you should upgrade it to version 1.8.0 before continuing. Before upgrading any production Airtime server, you should back up.

If you have deployed Airtime using apt-get, install with:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

If you have used the manual method you should repeat the installation steps of downloading and unpacking the tarball to an installation directory, and running the airtime-install script. The installation script will detect an existing Airtime deployment and back up any configuration files that it finds.

Full upgrade information can be found here.

To install Airtime for the first time, visit our download page.

The new tarball for Airtime 2.0.3 is here. (SourceForge is mirroring very slowly today. If the file does not appear, please refresh.)

If you have any issues with your upgrade or questions, head over to our forum.

What's new in Airtime 2?

And, just to jog your memory, here’s what’s new in the 2.0.x series in general...

Stream configuration through the browser

You can now have up to three streams with different bitrates and point them to different Icecast/SHOUTcast servers. Any connection problems between Liquidsoap and Icecast are shown in the interface (no more blaming Airtime for your misconfigured Icecast server!)

Better playlists

First up, the playlist now expands as you add items instead of keeping everything within a small scrolled box.. There's better error checking in cases where two users alter the same data at the same time now too. We removed the intermediate "Add Playlist" screen where it asked you to fill in the name and description of the playlist. This wasnt necessary since everything could be changed from the playlist editor itself. And finally, you can now right-click on an item in the library to see the metadata for the audio file.

Clever calendar!

Ability to change the day a week starts on. Your view settings are now saved in the calendar (time scale and time increments) and playlists (number of items displayed, search term), so when you browse away and return, they'll be remembered.

SoundCloud enhancements

Airtime's native integration with SoundCloud just got better! You can now upload any clip to SoundCloud (not just the recorded shows as it was in previous versions), upload many files at once, view the file on soundcloud.com once it is uploaded, re-upload a file (for example, if the file has been edited) and automatically set the file to be downloadable.

Easily change hardware output

Change the hardware output API from within your browser! You can now switch between ALSA, OSS, AO, Pulseaudio, and Portaudio, all via the user interface!

Live preview mode

You can now listen to your streams directly from the web interface without having to start a third party application (such as VLC). Gotta love this...

Simple access to settings

Configure time zone can now be set in the browser. Times are now stored in the database in UTC time, there is no more need to adjust server time or values stored in ".htaccess" or "php.ini" files. Woo-hoo! Another thing we moved to the browser was service monitoring. You can now see easily the status of the services and the disk space available.

Media Monitor improved

The Media Monitor is also much improved. It now correctly handles the case where a watched directory or subdirectory is deleted or moved. We also fixed a very rare bug where Airtime import could start reading a file before it had finished copying, leading to import failure.

Better security

Airtime 2.0 features protection against brute-force password guessing attacks: after three failed login attempts, the user will be presented with a RECAPTCHA.

And there's more...

We've improved a lot of small things relating to entering information into Airtime (only allowing valid inputs, removing a few unnecessary 'required' fields). We also added a friendly 404 page design and a small indicator as to whether you have the most recent version installed.

Say hello to Airtime 2.0.2!

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:10:01 +0100

Airtime 2.0.2, our free open source radio automation software, is out today and it's quicker than ever.

While we were fixing some vital bug reports from the community, we took the opportunity to optimise the calendar, dashboard and Now Playing page. The result? Your favourite open source radio automation software is now more stable and more responsive than ever. Airtime is free to download (and always will be), runs on Ubuntu and Debian, and users can interact with it through any web browser.

Check out the online demo
Download Airtime 2.0.2 free

Airtime Pro, is our hosted version of the software. It aims to make things easier and quicker still by taking care of installation, set-up, upgrades, security updates, server maintenance and worldwide technical support. We've just halved the price of hosting and there's a month's free trial on offer over at sourcefabric.com.

So, what's new in 2.0.2?

We’ve been benchmarking! Airtime’s Calendar display speed is now twice as fast, the dashboard is twice as fast and the Now Playing page is up to six times faster. In addition we sorted a couple of issues with the playout engine, worked on improving the show recorder and dealt with an filename upgrade issue affecting those trying to upgrade from 1.8.2. The full changelog is here.

And, just to jog your memory, here’s what’s new in the 2.0.x series in general...

Stream configuration through the browser

Better playlists

Clever calendar!

SoundCloud enhancements

Easily change hardware output

Change the hardware output API from within your browser! You can now switch between ALSA, OSS, AO, Pulseaudio, and Portaudio, all via the user interface!

Live preview mode

You can now listen to your streams directly from the web interface without having to start a third party application (such as VLC). Gotta love this...

Simple access to settings

Media Monitor improved

Better security

Airtime 2.0 features protection against brute-force password guessing attacks: after three failed login attempts, the user will be presented with a RECAPTCHA.

And there's more...

Airtime 2.0.1 improves stability and upgrades

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:21:05 +0100

Screenshots from Airtime 2, which was released in January 2012.

Airtime 2.0.1 is out and fixes some of the issues spotted by our eagle-eyed and ever-committed community. The headlines? Airtime is now more stable, is easier to upgrade and it's thanks to everyone who submitted feedback.

Test or install this latest release (secure-apt user will, of course, be upgraded automatically):

The update fixes the now infamous missing Australia and Arctic timezones bug (we apologise to the entire populations of both). It also improves Media Monitor behaviour (it no longer changes the owner of watched files) and an issue with a 24 hour show that failed to calculate total play-time and gave a false warning to users. In 2.0.0, sometimes the Current Playing item on the top panel incorrectly showed "Nothing Scheduled" - this is now fixed. When changing stream settings previously sometimes Airtime did not resume playback; the team also zapped this.

Here's that changelog in full:

Bug fixes

Now Playing

CC-3296 Sometimes the Current Playing Item on the top Panel in the UI incorrectly shows "Nothing Scheduled"

Playlist Builder

CC-3273 Latency of Playlist Builder play buttons very high when playing MP3 file on Firefox
CC-3310 Editing metadata of a song shows Artist instead of Creator.

Stream Settings

CC-3293 Stream settings page does not remember the stream metadata format

Shows

CC-3285 24 hour show fails to calculate total play time and gives a false warning to users

Recording

CC-3286 Shows not recorded after upgrade to 2.0.0 from 1.8.2

Preferences

CC-3291 Airtime is missing Australia and Arctic timezones

Media Monitor

CC-3282 Issue with file causing media-monitor to crash
CC-3299 Media monitor should not change the owner of watched files
CC-3318 When changing stream settings (Liquidsoap + Pypo restart), sometimes Airtime does not resume playback

Widgets

CC-3289 Widgets should have a version string so users can make sure widgets are up to date

Misc

CC-3284 Don't make browser users clear their cache when Airtime is upgraded
CC-3297 Depend on zendframework and php-pear as external packages
CC-3288 Remove phing code(airtime_mvc/library/phing) from releases
Various upgrade issues

Sourcefabric and Airtime love radio!

Airtime 2.0 features improved Icecast, SHOUTcast, SoundCloud integration

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:38:09 +0100

The latest version of Sourcefabric's open source radio automation software now adds the ability to configure Icecast and Shoutcast streams in the browser, a button to listen to the station's output and multiple improvements to the playlist and calendar views.

Airtime 2.0 can be demoed or downloaded free at sourcefabric.org

Sourcefabric have also announced a new radio hosting and streaming service called Airtime Pro. Built on their successful open source software, which has been downloaded over 12,000 times this year, Airtime Pro delivers a ready-to-broadcast, cloud-hosted version of the GNU Linux-based application. Installation, set-up, upgrades, security updates, server maintenance and worldwide technical support all come included in the range of packages which start at $49.95 a month.

Originally developed to enable radio stations in conflict zones to control their broadcast remotely, Airtime has found new applications with organisations like London-based community station Resonance FM, innovative Polish youth station Bieszczady FM, Canadian newswire NationTalk, and even trans-territorial networks like West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR).

"Traditional playout system licenses and hardware can be prohibitively expensive," said Paul Baranowski, Sourcefabric's chief technical officer. "We wanted to offer radio stations a choice that saved both time and money, whilst retaining many of the features radio stations really need like sound processing, intelligent media archives that watch file activities, and the ability to record and rebroadcast a live show."

Airtime was part of the WADR platform that won a Knight-Batten Innovation in Journalism award in 2011 where the judges commended its integration with SoundCloud.

What's new in Airtime 2.0?

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:37:39 +0100

Airtime 2.0, our free open source radio automation software, is out today and it couldn't have happened without the amazing Airtime community.

The focus of this release was to reduce the time and effort station managers and DJs spent on behind-the-scenes work, and thanks to the feedback of users we've been able to integrate many tasks into the Airtime interface. Configuring Icecast and SHOUTcast streams is just one of those things. We've also improved calendars, playlists, SoundCloud integration and the Media Monitor in order to make everything that little bit easier and more intuitive.

Check out the online demo
Download Airtime 2.0 free

Last week we officially launched Airtime Pro, our hosted version of the software. It aims to make things easier still by taking care of installation, set-up, upgrades, security updates, server maintenance and worldwide technical support. There's a month's free trial on offer over at sourcefabric.com.

Onto the improvements!

Stream configuration through the browser

Better playlists

Clever calendar!

SoundCloud enhancements

Easily change hardware output

Change the hardware output API from within your browser! You can now switch between ALSA, OSS, AO, Pulseaudio, and Portaudio, all via the user interface!

Live preview mode

You can now listen to your streams directly from the web interface without having to start a third party application (such as VLC). Gotta love this...

Simple access to settings

Media Monitor improved

Better security

Airtime 2.0 features protection against brute-force password guessing attacks: after three failed login attempts, the user will be presented with a RECAPTCHA.

And there's more...

Check out the online demo
Download Airtime 2.0 free
Test drive Airtime Pro
Enter the Airtime Artist of the Year contest

Airtime Pro Provides New Hosting, Streaming and Support Service For Radio

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:55:30 +0100

Sourcefabric have announced a new radio hosting and streaming service called Airtime Pro.

Built on its successful open source software, which has been downloaded over 12,000 times this year, Airtime Pro delivers a ready-to-broadcast, cloud-hosted version of the Linux-based application. Installation, set-up, upgrades, security updates, server maintenance and worldwide technical support all come included in the range of packages which start at $59.95 a month.

Originally developed to enable radio stations in conflict zones to control their broadcast remotely, Airtime has found new applications with organisations like London-based community station Resonance FM, Canadian newswire NationTalk, and even trans-territorial networks like West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR).

Airtime Pro offers a ready-made streaming add-on for radio stations, which allows them to broadcast via webstreams such as Icecast or Shoutcast. Elements within Airtime Pro packages can be upgraded or downgraded. As stations grow and require extra storage, streaming or support these can be purchased individually without the need to buy a whole new package.

"Traditional playout system licences and hardware can be prohibitively expensive," said Paul Baranowski, Sourcefabric's chief technical officer. "We wanted to offer radio stations a choice that saved both time and money, whilst retaining many of the features radio stations really need like sound processing, intelligent media archives that watch file activities, and the ability to record and rebroadcast a live show."

Airtime was part of the WADR platform that won a Knight-Batten Innovation in Journalism award in 2011 where the judges commended its integration with SoundCloud. The latest 2.0 version adds the ability to configure Icecast and Shoutcast streams in the browser, a button to listen to the station's output and multiple improvements to the playlist and calendar views.

More information can be found at airtime.pro.

One click install on Ubuntu and Debian with Airtime 1.9.5

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:21:53 +0100

Airtime 1.9.5 is out now! It comes with an 'easy install' package that sets up a quick configuration without the need to enter any settings. Airtime is free to download, runs on Ubuntu and Debian, and users can interact with it through any web browser.

Download Airtime 1.9.5

The airtime-easy-install DEB package will install everything needed for a working version of Airtime with a single click on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid or Debian 6.0 Squeeze through either the Ubuntu Software Center or the GDebi Package Installer.

Airtime 1.9.5 improves Airtime's Media Monitor, specifically the parsing of a file's metadata and the moving or renaming of 'watch' folders. It also addresses issues with parsing Unicode metadata in audio files and a bug with older versions of python-virtualenv.

The previous version of the software, Airtime 1.9.4, was the most downloaded version of the software to date with over 1500 downloads in its first month. Airtime is used by stations such as London's Resonance FM, Senegal's West Africa Democracy Radio and Poland's Bieszczady FM for scheduling, automation and remote radio station management.

Airtime 1.9.5 includes features debuted in the previous version: a file storage system with 'watch' folders that allows stations to magically synchronise files and to easily browse their audio archives, Shoutcast support, improved front-end widgets, and extensive bug-fixes.

Sourcefabric announces newsroom tool for independent media

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:23:16 +0100

Sourcefabric has announced it has begun work on a new software called Superdesk, which joins Airtime and Newscoop in its suite of free, open source tools for independent media. Superdesk's aim is to allow news organisations to build flexible, scalable newsrooms and deliver content to any available platform. Superdesk has been nominated as a finalist in the Ashoka Changemakers Citizen Media Innovation award.

The tool's core principle is "create once, publish everywhere" (COPE). Using APIs and content management, Superdesk allows newsrooms to pull in information from newswires, RSS, tools like InDesign, and social media and then output to web, mobile, radio, TV, and print. Forward planning calendars, source and data management and revenue components allow newsrooms to structure, prioritise and monetise their content.

"Superdesk's central paradigm will be the web, but it will be able to deliver on any platform, any device, anywhere, anytime," said Sava Tatić, managing director at Sourcefabric. "Flexibility is key. Rather than trying to build a tool made for everyone's newsroom, we are making a tool that everyone can build their newsroom upon."

Superdesk's lead consultant is David Brewer a media strategist who has consulted on newsrooms for Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN and ITV. "It's a dream come true for me," he said. "Superdesk could become the publication tool of choice for all who want to deliver content to multiple devices and a massive boost to the establishing of independent media."

Work on the project has already begun, with prototype features already benefiting newspapers like the new print-online hybrid TagesWoche in Switzerland. TagesWoche is using Print Desk, which brings print and online processes into one workflow, and Feed Ingest, which integrates external newswire feeds into the editorial process. Both features will make it into the first Superdesk release, due in Summer 2012.

For more information, contact Adam Thomas at Sourcefabric.

Journalism goes open source at Mediafabric in Prague

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:34:04 +0100

Peter Kahler talks about WADR at Mediafabric 2011.

Mediafabric 2011 saw over 250 guests arrive from five continents this weekend in Prague to explore new ideas at the intersection of journalism and open technology. The one day conference and two day hackathon was organised by Sourcefabric, a Czech not-for-profit promoting open source tools for journalists.

Former MI5-agent Annie Machon told journalists to consider the safety of their sources with multiple phones and a use of OpenPGP and stated that whistleblowers also need open source tools. Peter Kahler, station director at Knight-Batten Award winners West Africa Democracy Radio, told of the 500% increase in site visits since they switched to open source newsroom tools like Newscoop and Airtime.

Sarah Hartley of the Guardian, Mariano Blejman of Página/12 , Luis Manuel Botello of ICFJ, James Breiner of Tsinghua University and David Brewer of Media Helping Media also all called upon media to continue technological development whilst maintaining core values.

"Online media and citizen journalism are wake-up calls for the traditional press to re-invent itself, for journalists to relearn what their profession is all about," said conference speaker and editor of the Nepali Times Kunda Dixit. "We need a paradigm shift in the way we do journalism."

In the following two days, developers, software engineers and journalists met to improve existing platforms for news delivery, including RadioDNS, a system for hybrid radio broadcast, and SoundCloud, an audio-sharing platform with over 7 million users.

The event was covered internationally, broadcast on the homepage of livestream.com and partnered by ReadWriteWeb, European Youth Press, Leaders Vision, Transitions Online, expats.cz, Hackerspace Prague, Mediafun and SoundCloud.

For full speaker biographies and project links please visit conference.sourcefabric.org.

Airtime 1.9.4 released with .deb packages for Ubuntu and Debian

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:32:55 +0100

Airtime 1.9.4 has been released with new DEB packages for Ubuntu and Debian that keep installations automatically updated with the latest version. Airtime 1.9.4 also includes the new file storage system with 'watch' folders, allowing stations to magically synchronise files and to easily browse their audio archives, as well as Shoutcast support, improved front-end widgets, and extensive bug-fixes.

Get on air with Airtime 1.9 today!

The Airtime software runs on Ubuntu and Debian, and users can interact with it through any web browser. Support packages and custom installations are available from Sourcefabric.

Browse the full changelog here, or check out the updated Airtime manual (and don't forget you can buy a copy of the manual online).

Airtime is a finalist in the Packt Open Source Multimedia Software Awards 2011. Please take one minute to vote for it!

Ten features radio stations will love in Airtime 1.9.4.

1) Better audio archives. Airtime 1.9 improves radio station's experience with audio file manipulation, allowing the use of desktop audio editing software alongside Airtime's classic web interface. Airtime now stores files in a new easy-to-search directory, allowing producers and presenters to find and edit audio ready for broadcast.

2) Magic file synchronization. Edits to your files are automatically noticed by Airtime. If you edit any files on disk, such as trimming the length of a track, Airtime will automatically notice this and adjust the playlist lengths and shows for that audio file.

3) Auto-import and multiple directory support. You can set any number of directories to be watched by Airtime. Any new files you add to watched directories will be automatically imported into Airtime, and any deleted files will be automatically removed. The "airtime-import" command line tool can now set watched directories and change the storage directory.

4) Graceful recovery from reboot. If the playout engine starts up and detects that a show should be playing at the current time, it will skip to the right point in the track and start playing. Previously, Airtime would not play anything until the next show started. This also fixes a problem where the metadata on the stream was lost when a file had cue-in/out values set. (Thanks to the Liquidsoap developers for implementing the ability to do all of this!)

5) Improved installation. Only one command to install on Ubuntu!

6) Output to Shoutcast. Now both Shoutcast and Icecast are supported.

7) Frontend widgets are much easier to use. Their theme can now also be modified with CSS.

8) New Program Manager role. A program manager can create shows but can't change the preferences or modify users.

9) No more rebooting after install. Airtime now uses standard SystemV initd scripts instead of non-standard daemontools. This also makes for a much faster install.

10) 'End Time' instead of 'Duration'. In the Add/Edit Show dialog, we replaced the "Duration" field with "End Time". Users reported that this was a much more intuitive way to schedule the show. Duration is still shown as a read-only field.

Airtime radio software wins Knight-Batten Innovation Award, announces new release.

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:14:01 +0100

Managing DJs and staff with Airtime 1.9.

PRAGUE, August 8th 2011 - Airtime, the open source radio software, is part of the West Africa Democracy Radio platform that has won a Knight-Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism. The developers Sourcefabric, who announced the release of Airtime 1.9 this week with over forty improvements, will attend a ceremony at the Newseum in Washington DC on September 7th 2011 to receive the $2000 Special Distinction prize.

Airtime 1.9 features three new ways for radio stations like West Africa Democracy Radio to better manage audio files. Airtime now stores files in a new easy-to-search directory, allowing producers and presenters to find and edit audio ready for broadcast. ‘Magic file synchronisation’ then automatically updates playlists and shows when audio files are edited. Radio stations can also set ‘watch’ folders so that Airtime notices and updates the station’s archive when new audio is added or deleted.

“From West Africa Democracy Radio to London’s Resonance FM, Airtime is being adopted by a global community of radio stations worldwide” said Sourcefabric’s Chief Technical Officer Paul Baranowski. “Many of them gave us feedback for this release and one way we really wanted to improve their experience was with file storage and management.”

Other new features include a one-step Ubuntu install, graceful reboot recovery, Shoutcast support, and improved front-end javascript widgets to allow stations to display their programme online.

Airtime is free, open source software and allows users to schedule shows remotely through any web browser for broadcast via FM, digital or webstream. Airtime can be downloaded at http://airtime.sourcefabric.org

Sourcefabric is a Czech Republic-based not-for-profit organisation and one of the largest open source media organisations in Europe. They provide independent newspapers, radio stations and journalistic enterprises with open source software, services and support.

For more information contact Adam Thomas or visit the Sourcefabric Press Centre.