MediaMaster Playlist is the automation component of the system. It lets a teacher or administrator schedule automatic behaviors to occur on specific times and dates. These playlists can repeat on a fixed schedule, happen just once, or some combination, such as during a range of dates. Creating a playlist is simple enough that anyone can sit down and immediately figure it out. First you set the rules that govern when a playlist happens: schedule it for specific dates and times or ranges of dates and times, specific days of the week, etc. Then you choose what happens in the playlist: you can page a group of classrooms, or play titles, or both. That done, you give the new playlist a name and save it. Having been made aware of your wishes, the MediaMaster system proceeds to carry them out. That’s it! If you want to play one or more titles, you can set them up to play just once, or in a continuous loop for the playlist’s entire duration. If you page a zone (or all rooms), you can say which channel to tune the schools’ displays to, and optionally set their volume to a particular level. Playlist paging works the same way as in MediaMaster Administrator (MM-1185): sources in use get paused, displays get turned on and sent to the paged channel, and volume levels get set. When the playlist ends, all paged displays return to their previous states. Playlist is excellent for automating events that happen periodically within a school, such as morning announcements or hall displays during class changes. It’s also popular for automating events on special occasions like parent-teacher conferences. Individual teachers may also find it useful for stringing together several digital video titles into a coherent lesson plan.