PlayIt Live is a well-liked Windows playout system with a free tier, a clean interface and paid Premium features — a natural first home for internet and community stations. AirWaves sits at the other end of the same road: a full broadcast platform where playout shares one database with music scheduling, traffic and billing, AI tools, production and streaming. Here is an honest side-by-side so you can see whether it is time to move up.
Comparison based on features publicly advertised at playitsoftware.com as of August 2026. PlayIt Live is a trademark of its owner; AirWaves is not affiliated with PlayIt Live. If anything here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
| Capability | AirWaves | PlayIt Live |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Browser-based; control from any screen (Windows playout engine) | Windows-installed; free base with paid Premium tiers |
| Price | Commercial platform — demo available | Free tier; Premium paid |
| Radio automation & playout | Yes — own engine, separate Air and Stream schedules simultaneously | Yes — manual and automated playout |
| Music scheduling | Yes — format clocks, rule tree, energy-flow sequencing, built in | Built-in scheduler |
| Traffic & billing | Full traffic, invoicing, AR & general ledger, network clearance & barter | None advertised |
| AI tools | AI imaging, AI DJ personas, AI newscasts, AI weathercast, AI show prep, AI program director | None advertised |
| Voice tracking | Yes — markers, dayparts, remote via browser | Yes — via VoiceTrack / Premium |
| Streaming | Yes — with VAST ad insertion and stream ad replacement | Yes — encoder plugin |
| Audio processing | Full broadcast chain — AGC, multiband, FM clipper, split Air/Stream finals | Basic; extended by plugins |
| Production studio | Multitrack editor, segue editor, automatic marker detection | Companion apps (Recorder, Cartwall) |
| Use modules with other automation | Every module runs standalone and feeds any automation — including PlayIt Live | Playout system + companion apps |
For stations moving from hobby to business — yes. PlayIt Live is a genuinely good playout system with a free tier and paid Premium features. AirWaves is a commercial broadcast platform: playout plus full traffic and billing, advanced scheduling, AI imaging and DJ tools, production, processing and streaming with ad insertion, all in the browser.
As of August 2026, the largest gaps are commercial: PlayIt Live does not advertise traffic, invoicing or billing, and has no AI toolset. AirWaves includes full traffic and billing with network clearance and barter, AI imaging, AI DJ personas, AI newscasts and weathercasts, show prep fitted to your log, a multitrack production studio and a full audio-processing chain.
The common triggers are the first advertisers — invoices, affidavits and reconciled schedules need a traffic system, not a spreadsheet — and the moment scheduling needs go past a built-in scheduler to format clocks, rules and energy flow. Multi-station operation and wanting one platform instead of several companion apps are the others.
Yes. Every AirWaves module runs standalone and feeds any automation system, including PlayIt Live — logs from the scheduler, spots from traffic, finished AI imaging, weathercasts and show prep dropped straight into the folders your playout already watches.
Not ready to switch anything? Every AirWaves module — music scheduling, traffic & billing, show prep, AI imaging, the AI DJ and more — also runs alongside the automation you already own.
Ask for a live demo and compare it against anything you use today.
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