Site Licensing Agreements

[RevRichB]

We are about to evaluate different worship projection software, and I'd like help with two parts.

1: Can I prepare the service on my PC at home, save it (easily) to a USB drive, and then load it onto the computer we use in church? Is this easy to do if the service contains video clips, PowerPoint presentations etc?

2: Can I use a single license of the software to prepare the presentations on multiple computers as we only use one computer to run the worship service?

I'm especially interested to find answers to these questions for SongShow Pro, Easy Worship, Sunday Plus and MediaShout.

Thanks for your help.

[DaveJ]

Easy Worship will allow you to do both items. To play a DVD it will need to be done on the presentation PC. You may have transfer Power point files, etc on to the USB drive also. Test the evaluation program for sure.

[[Admin] osborn4]

I can answer for SongShow Plus.

1) Yes. SongShow Plus has a "Package to Go" feature that will allow you to create the song show program and then, basically, zip up the program and all the elements used in the program (backgrounds, video clips, powerpoint) into one file. Then you take that package to go file to the projection PC and restore the package.

You do need to keep all the elements that you want to package in the SSP data directory. If you point to a clip, ppt, jpg, whatever, that is elsewhere on your workstation, it will not package it.

2) With SSP you can install as many "workstation" licenses as you want, wherever you want, not restricted by site. One projection license comes with your original purchase. However, you can add additional projection licenses for $99 each.

The workstation license is only restricted in that it can't project (or it projects with a watermark, can't remember which). Other than that, it's a full functional copy of SSP.

[greg4god]

I haven't used it myself, but the other person who ran Media Shout uses a feature in there to basically package up an entire "show" onto a drive (DVD, USB, whatever) so that if his laptop didn't work, could run it from mine. Again same issue would be with an actual DVD, would need that on the presentation system.

As far as the licensing, check carefully on the wording. Some software (speaking in general, not about the ones you listed) require a license for each installation, while some will allow multiple installation as long as only one copy is being used (ie, you are using it at home, so it's not being used at church). For Media Shout, we have I think 4 licenses, as for our church at one point on a wed night it could be used in the church, at the youth center and on a portable setup during an outreach service.

-Greg

[MediaGuy]

Media Shout requires licensing for each computer it is installed on - and it's expensive.

[Ebroach]

I go ditto with DaveJ. Easyworship will do what you are asking.

If you have a DVD clip that you add into your schedule on your pc at home you will have to have the DVD Media in the presentation PC at church also. It will record the starting point and stopping point but will not rip the clip and save it with the schedule.

As far as PPT EZW will compress the PPT show into the EZW schedule but I still would recommend having a copy of the PPT show on the USB drive .

I think it would be safe practice to include any ppt, video clips etc that you point to externally from EZW copied onto the USB drive also.

EZW comes with a Site License agreement. It can be used on multiple computers that the church(licensee) owns. And there is no additional fee for this.

[[Director] Joseph B]

The EASY answer - check with the software company. They are all different and some are more liberal/flexabile in what they allow. Some will even make exceptions to their standard practice.

[Mike Moore]

Sunday Plus has a site license and you can put the software on your home machine, different church presentation machines, secretary machine, pastor machine, and whatever you need to do within your ministry work. Let me know if you would like to see a demo. Sunday Plus also has the gofile feature that will allow you to save your service you have put together, but then also make an exact copy of the whole service into one folder onto your desktop and then you can take it via thumb drive/cd/ or whatever and then drop it on another machine that has Sunday Plus on it and you are ready to present.

Mike

[[Admin] danroth]

Originally Posted by MediaGuy

Media Shout requires licensing for each computer it is installed on - and it's expensive.

it comes with a license for two computers

[[Admin] skstarkiller]

If you do decide you like MediaShout the best, I can make you a heck of a deal on a site license when you buy it with the software.

[rkresge]

Lost my original reply to this.

Joel (Osborn4) was right on regarding SongShow Plus, but I wanted to expand a bit on their site license as I understand it.

First, keep in mind that with SSP you get one "projection" license and unlimited "workstation" licenses.

As I understand it, if your church computers are networked you can put your SSP data files in a central shared location. This would mean you can create and edit songs on one PC while you set up a worship service on another, and edit a slide show on another. When it's all ready, nothing has to be copied, moved, etc. - everything you need is right there, ready to run on the projection computer from the shared data space.

Second, the unlimited workstation licenses mean you can install SSP on your home computer, create and edit slide shows, worship services, etc. at home, and then easily transport it to church for your Sunday services on a thumb drive using SSP's Backup/Restore tool or Package To Go features.

Third, your team members may download and install SSP on their home computers and use it for practice.

It's my understanding that additional "projection" licenses are relatively inexpensive, although I can't find specifics about that on rTechnics' current Web site. Even better, I believe it's also a one-time expense.

Roger

[johde]

Originally Posted by osborn4

I can answer for SongShow Plus.
The workstation license is only restricted in that it can't project (or it projects with a watermark, can't remember which). Other than that, it's a full functional copy of SSP.

The Workstation and demonstration versions watermark the projection screen. So, you can work on them in dual monitor mode to see the projection full screen as well as the working screen.