Can I create 'packets' in Scheduler?

Some music scheduling systems use the concept of 'packets' to group similar items together.

As various systems use 'packets' to mean different things, we decided to avoid using the term in Scheduler to keep things simple.

On this page, we'll explain how to replicate the behaviour of 'packets' from other scheduling systems you may have used before.

If you're used to Music1

In Music1, packets are effectively sub-categories within categories, so you could have a "21st century" category containing packets for the 00s, 10s and 20s. When the top-level category was scheduled, an item from each packet would be scheduled in turn.

In Aiir Scheduler, as items can belong to multiple categories, you could have a "21st century" category, as well as categories for each decade. If you want items in that category to rotate between 00s, 10s and 20s tracks, you can use tags.

Tags, combined with the Tag Separation rule, allow you to just schedule your chosen category in your clocks, and tagged items within that category will alternate.

If you're used to MusicMaster

In MusicMaster, packets are used to group different versions of the same item together, so you don't get two versions of the same track scheduled too close together.

In Aiir Scheduler, you can set up separation rules to handle this for you without creating a packet each time.

Various metadata fields - such as Title, Artist, Related Artists, Tags and Custom Fields - can be used to separate similar tracks.

If you do want to separate items manually, we recommend creating a Tag or Custom Field and applying it to all the items you want to separate.

If you're used to GSelector

GSelector has two types of packets - "diggable" and "non-diggable". Diggable packets can be searched to find the item that best matches the rules you have in place. Non-diggable packets evenly rotate through the available items, regardless of the rules affecting them.

Rather than managing these rotations as a 'packet', you can control the scheduling behaviour by managing the rules themselves. In Aiir Scheduler, rules can be set as "breakable" or "non-breakable" and applied to specific items, categories or all music/non-music in your library.

Categories can be set to schedule in two ways: by most rested (the default, picks the items from the category that haven't been heard the longest) or ranked (rotates evenly between the items in order).

You can use a combination of tags, separation rules and rank-ordered categories to allow Aiir Scheduler to rotate within a clock. Remember, in Aiir Scheduler, items can exist in more than one category. For example, instead of creating a "non-diggable" packet, you could add items to an additional category, schedule that in your logs, and have the category schedule by rank order to evenly rotate between the available items.