CartMax


CartMax is radio station automation software. It can be used as "live assist", cart machine replacement, satellite automation, or limited full time automation.

12-29-2005 Update! CartMax version 1.01 is now available for download.
Version 1.01 fixes the(embarrasingly) buggy Auto Sequence and Continuous Autosequence playback. I'm not sure how I ever thought that it worked before, but by golly it works correctly now.

You can now download CartMax here:
CartMax-Setup.exe (3,546,624 byte download)
SFV Checksum file(97 bytes)
MD5 Checksum file(53 bytes)

If you already have CartMax installed, then you can update to 1.01 by downloading the CartMax Update zip file. This zip file contains the updated CartMax.exe and CartMax.hlp file. Replace the original files with the new ones in the zip file. If you don't want to do that then just download and run the new setup program.

Version 1.01 is a free download!

It's not just for radio stations, CartMax can also be used to provide background music for offices, stores, restaurants, your home, anyplace that needs it.
Features include:
-Three cart machine lists and one "AutoCart" list
-Plays standard WAV and MP3 files.
-Auto resume playback after a power failure
-Customizable Cart titles
-Virtually unlimited number of files can be played and programmed in advance with the AutoCart Editor
-Auto Sequence and Continuous Auto Sequence of the AutoCart list, It can play forever!
-Each cart list can be fired by an external contact, such as a satellite receiver or timer
-Complete AutoCart logging available
-Advance to any point in a playing sound file
-Total and File countdown timers
-File list time subtotaling
-many more features!

Things it does not do (at least in this version) but may happen later:
-Mix files (play two file simultaneously)
-Automatically build playlists from directories
-Read and utilize the ID tag in MP3's.
-Play VBR MP3 files.

Known Issues:
-Automax doesn't play some MP3 files created by RealJukeBox, for some reason they (Real) stick a 64K blob at the start of the file, and the MP3 player module doesn't look past it.

AutoMax Screen Shot:
Automax screen shot


AutoCart Editor Screenshot:
Cart Editor screen shot


A little history:
CartMax was originally designed for satellite automation. A friend of mine owned a station and needed new cart machines, and also a way to run the station when they were using a satellite feed. Computers are much cheaper than cart machines and editing is much easier, he just needed a program to simulate a cart machine. That's when CartMax was born.

You can set up groups of commercials in the Autocart list, and a new set loads after each one plays. The other cart lists play the weather, ID, etc. Each cart list can be fired off by a contact input, such as a satellite receiver.

I also volunteer at a Radio Reading Service for the blind. Not long ago, they moved into a new studio with computers for recording. They also needed a program to play the recordings on the air, but their needs are different than that of a radio station. They need something to playback long wav files and also let them know the timing for several hours of programming. They had several small recording studios that were networked together with the main broadcast computer. So I modified CartMax some more, incorporating the needs of the reading service into the program as well. This is when I added the network abilites, any wave file could be played from any of the computers without the need to physically transfer the file to the broadcast computer. This was also the driving force behind the "AutoResume" functionality.

You can email me at:
cartmax at rmonet.com
If you're looking for (Automax), that name belongs to someone else. That is why this program is now called CartMax.

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