What can I expect when I change Digital Audio Systems

Whether you are changing to a Smartcaster or other digital audio system, expect to be in new territory and allow time for the transition.

We’ve reached the point in the development of digital audio that many stations are replacing first-generation digital systems with new ones. There’s a common cry heard across the country. The transition can be quite difficult.

Digital audio is a very young science. The first digital systems for broadcast were introduced (By Smarts and Auddisk) in 1989, and massive changes have occurred with computer hardware since that time. The result is that standards have yet to fully develop, and there are no standards whatsoever for the software that actually records or plays digital audio.

In analog days, if you could run a turntable you could pretty well run any turntable, and you didn’t have to budget time and effort for any transitions. That’s not true in the digital audio arena. Every manufacturer over the last few years has developed divergent systems with little or no operational relationship between them. The ability to run one system doesn’t guarantee the ability to run another.

Additionally, digital audio files must contain data and instructions for the program that is playing or recording them. These data sets are totally different from unit to unit. A common question is “If I buy a Smartcaster, will it play the audio I recorded on a …”

While the answer is generally “yes”, it doesn’t tell the entire story. Smartcasters are quite diverse in the audio algorithms they will play, including wave files, MPEG layer II, Mpeg Layer III and APT-X as well as many older ADPCM formats. That doesn’t mean however that a Smartcaster will seamlessly play all audio recorded in that format. The problem is in the data files and headers that accompany the audio files, and in the numbering schemes that different manufacturers use. Expect to take a great deal of time manipulating data from system to system so that the systems will accept the foreign audio files,.

A simple example is the numbering system for audio. Some units use only 4 digit numeric designations (7321) to designate a cut. Others use 5 digits (87654) Others use only letters (YTER) and still others will allow a combination (M0234). There will be considerable time and effort spent by the digital audio manufacturers representatives and your staff to make the needed conversions before any of those files will play.

The problem will carry over to your traffic and billing department, as well as the program director, who will probably need to change numbering schemes in whatever program you are using to produce music playlists. You may need to prepare both these departments for substantial changes before you will have the situation in hand. An honest appraisal of the required time for the transition is 2 to 3 months. It gets easier, of course, the further you get into the transition period.

All that having been said, you will inevitably, someday, need to update to a new digital system. In addition to building and supporting many quality digital audio products, Smarts Broadcast Systems has developed an extensive system of providing help in the transition. You can depend on our company to be available to help you across the chasm when that change occurs. We can do a lot to make it easier.