How to use the Audio Feature

*Requires player version 10 or above.

A brand new content feature is Audio Loop. This feature allows you to play audio files (mp3).

The audio content plays on a separate audio loop which is independent from the main visual loop and solely dedicated to audio content. Both loops play simultaneously, but independently from each other. A content change in the visual loop does not affect the audio loop.

You can publish an audio asset directly to the audio loop or as an audio playlist.

The audio loop supports three file types:

• Audio files: mp3
• Audio playlists
• Audio apps: e.g. Audio Announcement App and Audio Streaming Link

Audio playlist does not support audio streaming from Spotify, or similar.

1. Create an audio playlist
   1. First upload audio files to your content area. You won’t be able to upload them in the following steps.
   2. New audio playlist
      The audio playlist is created like any other content. In your Content area, go to New and select Audio Playlist.
      
   3. Set up audio playlist
      The configuration page for an audio playlist resembles the configuration of a regular content playlist.
      
   4. Add audio content
      Drag your audio files from the left to the playlist. Only audio files can be added to the audio playlist. You need to upload them before you start creating the audio playlist.
      
   5. Settings and restrictions
      Configure the audio file and playlist as needed. Audio items work with the same restrictions as all other media items: 
      • Playback based on player tags
      • Playback with restrictions
        
2. Publish audio playlist
   Audio content is published in the same way other content is published. The server will automatically create an audio loop if there hasn’t been one before. 
   1. Define playback restrictions
      Create detailed playback schedules or play audio content based on player tags
      
   2. Set playback
      Now, it’s time to publish. Again, as with every other content, you can publish the separate audio playlist on the Primary or Fallback Loop of the Audio Content Loop. The other publishing options are to schedule for a specific time, to get triggered by GPS location, or to get triggered on-demand.
       
      • On-demand audio
        When publishing on-demand audio content, you can select whether this content stops the main audio loop or plays on top of it:
        
   3. Content in player
      If you want to view the content on a player, click on Player Content and you will find the Audio Loop right below the Primary Loop for the general visual content.
      
3. Audio properties
   Audio content has two types of volumes, the content volume itself and the volume of “Others”.
    

   You can lower the volume of other media when this audio plays, for example during an announcement. After the announcement stops, the other media will revert to the original volume.
   This technique is called Audio Ducking and shown in detail in a dedicated tutorial.

4. Audio apps
   At present, two audio centric apps are at your disposal:
    
   • The Streaming Audio Link app functions like our other link apps by inserting a URL.
   • The Audio Announcement app is a TextToSpeech app that allows you to create simple text content which is spoken as audio on the player in a variety of voices and languages. Check out the Audio Announcement app tutorial for details.