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Free Media Software

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 7:37 pm
by Paully_44
I have a friend in a small church with pretty much a nil budget. They have a projector and he just bought a laptop. The pastor is not looking to spend money on software like Easy Worship, MediaShout or Song Show Plus. I know there are some free programs out there that do similiar functions, but you think I can find them?

I'd appreciate any suggestions I could pass along.

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 9:03 pm
by Billy n NC
Paully here are a few.

http://www.openlp.org/

http://www.easislides.com/

http://www.screenmonkey.co.uk

and lastly One of the CMN guys personal page

http://freeforchurches.com/


I have not tried these but they may be enough to get them started.

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 2:29 am
by PastorP
Check with H. E. Cardin. He has a free Worship Software program listed on his Ministry Helps site.

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 3:48 am
by RamboPreacher
if they have office, then powerpoint works great. if they don't then openoffice has a version that works great as well.
http://portableapps.com/
or
http://www.openoffice.org/

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 4:02 am
by Paully_44
RamboPreacher wrote:if they have office, then powerpoint works great. if they don't then openoffice has a version that works great as well.
http://portableapps.com/
or
http://www.openoffice.org/


Yep, they do have powerpoint, but what they are looking for is way, similiar in EasyWorship, where as the congregation is doing their thing, he can be working on adding/editing and it be unnoticeable to them. I didnt think PowerPoint was able to do that.

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 4:10 am
by jdavis
I use Open Song:http://www.opensong.org/
It is still in development but has become a pretty good program.
Drawbacks are no video background feature.
Doesn't work with power point but is free and will link to ccli for songs if you are a member.

john

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 4:59 am
by RamboPreacher
Paully_44 wrote:
RamboPreacher wrote:if they have office, then powerpoint works great. if they don't then openoffice has a version that works great as well.
http://portableapps.com/
or
http://www.openoffice.org/


Yep, they do have powerpoint, but what they are looking for is way, similiar in EasyWorship, where as the congregation is doing their thing, he can be working on adding/editing and it be unnoticeable to them. I didnt think PowerPoint was able to do that.
yes, powerpoint can do this with a dual screen setup, and extended desktop. some folks that don't know how to set their systems up make teh big screen the "desktop", and the computer screen is the same desktop. this is not the best way to do that, if the hardware will allow it (and they almost all do allow it, except for some of the really old systems).

In fact, I do this all the time, edit a previous or subsequent slide, while displaying another. what's even more interesting is that you can even edit a slide that is currently being displayed! :)

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 5:17 am
by MacUser
Rambo is correct.

( Note: Not Free, but SIMPLE )
You can also run a modern mac with dual screen mode set and then use Apple Keynote. Super simple.

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 6:13 am
by RamboPreacher
MacUser wrote:...( Note: Not Free, but SIMPLE )
You can also run a modern mac with dual screen mode set and then use Apple Keynote. Super simple.
yup - same thing but different. :)

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 6:55 am
by stevenson
Paully,
Easyslides is the best! It's totally free and works just like EasyWorship. It's on Bubba's site cuz me & a friend hooked him up.

I like it cuz ou can do songs on the f heartbeat. And it is easy and simple. My daughter started running it when she was only 10 years old and she never missed a beat. You know if a 10 year old can run it, anbody can.

Stay away from Opensong. It runs like Sunday Plus. Horrible program unless your running it on a Mac. Then it's okay.

I've ran just about every program out there. If ya want a run down on everything avalible, go to http://www.thepeatgroup.com/. They have a chart were they compare all the projection software that is avalible, from free to expensive.

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 6:58 am
by stevenson
Another thing, if you haven't bought cables yet, check out http://www.monoprice.com. You won't beat their prices and they always seem to have that hard to find adapter that nobody else has.

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 7:01 am
by jdavis
I havent tried this one but it looks interesting. Works with powerpoint[url][url]http://www.powerworship.com/[/url]

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 10:41 am
by stevenson
Most presatation software uses powerpoint viewer or Micro$oft net frame in the background. It's the basic frame work for the software.

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 11:58 am
by Paully_44
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I'll pass this along to them later on this evening.