Rotate, List and Shuffle Media Items

Modified on Tue, 24 Sep at 12:48 PM

As well as standard Media Items (ie a single bit of audio), Myriad Playout v5/v6 has three additional types of Media Item that use a list of other existing Media Items on the Media Wall in one of three ways:

Rotate Media Items - These allows you to setup a list of existing Media Items that will be 'rotated' each time this item is played in a Media Player. So if you add four Media Items to a Rotating Media Item, each time the Rotating Media Item is played, the next in the list will be the actual audio played.
List Media Items - This allows a list of existing Media Items to be automatically be compiled in to a single item when played in a Media Player. So if you have a List Media Items with four Media Items in it, when the List Media Item is dragged into a Media Player, all four media items will be played 'back to back' and they will appear as a single item for countdown purposes.
Shuffle Media Items - These allows you to setup a list of existing Media Items that will be 'shuffled' each time this item is played in a Media Player. So if you add four Media Items to a Shuffle Media Item, each time the Shuffle Media Item is played, a random Media Item from the list will be the actual audio played.

Use Case Ideas

These three new classes of Media Item can be very useful. Below is a few examples where they may be used:

Random Jingle - You could create either a Rotate or Shuffle Media Item and add a few jingles to it so that each time it is played (either by dragging into a player, in the Log or from a Favourite), a different jingle is played. If you use a Shuffle Media Item then the selection will be random. If you choose a Rotate Media Item then the will be rotated such that if you have six jingles in the Rotate Media Item, you will hear the first jingle again on the 7th play!
Advert Stack - A List Media Item is a good way of creating a simple 'advert stack' that can be scheduled or manually played using the Media Players or Favourites. When the item is played, all the individual adverts within will be played as if they were a single piece of audio. The advantage to this is that if you need to replace the middle advert, you can simple edit the List Media Item and swap the middle item with the new advert. The same thing can also be used for other common sequences such as the news or feature beds.
Combinations - You can get creative by combining these Media Item types. We mentioned the Advert Stack idea above but imagine you wanted to add some variation, you could create three different 'Advert Stacks' with either different adverts or maybe just different orders. Then create a Shuffle Media Item and in that place the three 'advert stacks' so that you have a single Media ID that when played (again via the Log, manually dragging into a player or played by a Favourite) will randomly play one of your three 'advert stacks'!

As Media Items can also have Commands or other Media Items attached to timing points (Intro, extro, hook etc) you can build very powerful sequences of audio and actions that can be played simply by playing an item.

Setting Up A Rotate Media Item

To setup a Rotate Media Item follow these steps:

Highlight the Media ID you want to use to create your Rotate Media Item.
Click on the Edit button on the ribbon (or you can right click on Media Item and choose edit from menu).
On the Edit Window, add a Title and click on the Rotate button on the Media Item Type Toolbar.
Next, drag Media Items from the Media Wall to the list area on the Rotate Media Item.

TIP: you can also use the Media Browser available from the View menu if it is more convenient.
You will now have a list of Media Items that will be used 'in order' each time this item is played.
You can view and alter the order by dragging items up or down the list. The 'next to play' item is visible via the green 'play' icon. You can also remove items from the list using the 'X' button.
You can play your Rotate Media Item by dragging it into a Media Player, from a Favourite or by adding it to the Log. You can also schedule the specific Media ID as part of your Clocks in Myriad Schedule or AutoTrack.

The timing information displayed is always for the next item to play in the list.

Setting Up A Shuffle Media Item

Setting up a Shuffle Media Item is basically exactly the same as setting up a Random Media Item except you click on the Shuffle Media Item option on the Media Type Toolbar.

Highlight the Media ID you want to use to create your Shuffle Media Item.
Click on the Edit button on the ribbon (or you can right click on Media Item and choose edit from menu).
On the Edit Window, add a Title and click on the Rotate button on the Media Item Type Toolbar.
Next, drag Media Items from the Media Wall to the list area on the Shuffle Media Item.

TIP: you can also use the Media Browser available from the View menu if it is more convenient.
You will now have a list of Media Items that will be used randomly each time this item is played.
You can also remove items from the list using the 'X' button.
You can play your Shuffle Media Item by dragging it into a Media Player, from a Favourite or by adding it to the Log. You can also schedule the specific Media ID as part of your Clocks in Myriad Schedule or AutoTrack.

The timing information displayed is always for the next item to play in the list.

Setting Up A List Media Item

Setting up a List Media Item is basically exactly the same as setting up a Random or Shuffle Media Item except you click on the List Media Item option on the Media Type Toolbar.

Highlight the Media ID you want to use to create your List Media Item.
Click on the Edit button on the ribbon (or you can right click on Media Item and choose edit from menu).
On the Edit Window, add a Title and click on the List button on the Media Item Type Toolbar.
Next, drag Media Items from the Media Wall to the list area on the List Media Item.

TIP: you can also use the Media Browser available from the View menu if it is more convenient.
You will now have a list of Media Items that will all be played in order each time this item is played.
You can edit the order they will play in by dragging items up or down. You can also remove items from the list using the 'X' button.
You can play your List Media Item by dragging it into a Media Player, from a Favourite or by adding it to the Log. You can also schedule the specific Media ID as part of your Clocks in Myriad Schedule or AutoTrack.

The timing information displayed is the combined duration of all items in the List.
When you play a List Item in a Media Player, the total duration and 'progress' bar will be for the duration of all items combined.

N.B. You cannot scrub through a List Media Item by right clicking on the progress bar or dragging the play position.

Please note that you cannot add Command Media Items to Lists, Rotates or Shuffle Media Items. If you need to play Commands within one of these you will need to use a standard audio Media Item and then play a Command Media Item from one of the timing trigger points (Intro / Extro / Hook etc).