It's a nice idea to exchange audio content via the Internet - especially with the availability of powerful desktop computers, the MP3 audio format and high bandwidth connections to end users. No more tapes to copy, no more expensive (and slow) parcels to send. Is it really that easy? Of course not!
Where do you put the description of your newsitem for other people to read? Whats the best way to distribute data to several people in one go and without hassle? How do different people easily find in an archive what they are looking for? Will an electronic exchange system blow up when running with hundreds of users and tens of thousands of data entries?
Program Exchange via the Internet has been used at radio hsf in Ilmenau since 1994. Seven years and three major versions of the system provided a lot of experience and insight into the question "What makes such a system a success or a failure?". Currently, this know-how is employed to build a new system from scratch for the community radios in northern Germany.
Some of the lessons from this process will be presented during the presentation.