Whats so bad about choosing radio automation? Not alot, except for the big differences which affects the price of the top 3 radio automation software in 2009. In this case, "what you see if what you get". Choosing radio automation can be easy if you know what you want and know what the features are that you will use and the ones that you wont. No point in paying over $200 for features you hardly use or know about. Its always important to read the manuals of the software before purchasing so you know how things work and if they are in easy access infront of you (not tucked in a toolbar or dropdown menu).

In this case there are not very many choices out there, google has dropped its part in radio and some are strting to follow. Some of the most famous software for radio automation over the years has discontinued or ceased development to continue to stay on top of the radio automation market. Thats good news for other developers, this means a chance to improve their features. But it can die down over time, if other developers dont try and stay on top, there becomes a black hole or a slow period of time where no development happens. This is a clear case for SAM automation, they have stopped their new development of sam 4 because of no major competition.

Overall you have a choice this year, SAM, Station Playlist (A long leader) and Zarastudio (New in 09). Here we have put them in a nice table and stuck the features you want to see inside the table side-by-side. Have a look and see which one stands out the most and why no further developments have come out of this company ;)

Name	SAM (Spacial Audio)	Station Playlist	ZaraStudio
Release Date	06 05 2005	01 09 2005	01 07 2009
Operating System	Windows 98 ME, XP	Windows 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista	Windows 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista
Version	4.2.2	Unknown	2.0
Languages	English	English	English, Spanish
License Type	Complete Package	Studio Package	Complete Package
Distribution	Download	Download	Download, CD
BPM Detection	Yes	No	No
Crossfading	Yes	Yes	Yes
Drag & Drop	Yes	Yes	Unknown
Gap Killer	Yes	Yes	No
Track Preview	Yes	Yes	Yes
Events	Yes	Yes	Yes
Skins/Layouts	Yes	No	No
HTML Output / Web Interactivity	Yes	Yes	Limited Text File
Title Streaming	Yes	Yes	No
Supported Servers	Shoutcast, Live365, Windows Media, IceCast v1 and v2, VTrails, P2P Streamer	Shoutcast, Icecast, Streamer p2p, and Windows Media servers.	None
Detailed Statistics	Yes	Yes	No
Price	$279.00 USD	$215.00 USD	$205.00 USD
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