Song Projection Software
Monday, 29 October 2007 by timlings
I don’t know what other people use for projecting song software, but I’ve become a great fan of a program called OpenSong. The benefits of it are that:
- It’s free
- It’s open source
- It works on both PC and Mac (and Linux I think as well…)
- It’s pretty easy to use
- It keeps improving all the time
Like all programs, it does take a while to get your head around, but it seems to be a lot more sensible that a lot of really dire programs I’ve seen out there.
What do other people use?
We use good old OHP, which I still prefer! Anyone can operate it, and you never get that embarrassing pause as the operator doesn’t keep up with what verse you’re on. Having said that our OHP has died (again) and we’re looking to get a projector and laptop.
Boo, I say!
OHPs are classic…. But ours has just bust, boo… I think we’re gonna wade into the laptop and projector world.
Is that program a free download? And what do you mean by ‘open source’?
Open source mean (I think) that the code itself can be altered and added to by anyone. It’s basically means it’s free and usually will continually be developed by various people. It’s got a lot better as a programme over time, which is cool. Have a look at the website! http://www.opensong.org
Open Song is ok but i depends on what you want to use the program for. At the church i go to we use a program called Songbase which is geared towards worship leaders. Whilst you can do powerpoint with it and it’s great at gettign the words on the screen (is easy to use and so on) it is also a great song database, including lyrics and chord sheets, the ability to instanty traspose a song before you print it out. It can be used to track what songs you use and when to make CCLI easier. Anyway, just thought i’d throw that one out there!!
Your right, it does depend on what you want to use if for…
Songbase looks quite good, but I’d still recommend OpenSong because…
* it’s free
* it’s multi-platform (handy for Mac heads out there…
* it does do song chords (with transposing) so you can print off lead sheets
The CCLI tracking feature does seem pretty handy though…
Blessings!
Yes, OpenSong does look good for all the reasons mentioned. And if you’re looking to invest in a projector and laptop as well as song lyric software like we are, why not go for OpenSong? You won’t have to pay for the software and you don’t have to buy one of those nasty Windoze machines!
Oops. Did I say that out loud?
Amen, preach it brother!
We have been using OpenSong for about a month now and are definitely going to go for it as a permanent projection solution. Chislehurst congregation will be an entirely Mac and OpenSong environment! Woo-hoo!
Good job! That sounds like a whole lot of fun. Are there any niggles, and how have you worked around them? Are there any definite plusses?
I think it’ll take us a while to work through the pluses and minsues - particularly as I’ve never really used any other software a great deal. It’s working for us at the moment with no problems.
We are using OpenSong for all our lyric projection and some lead sheets. We’re also using Keynote for all sermon point projection which simply blows PowerPoint out of the water. What with all the free downloads for the Songs of Fellowship lyrics plus the fact that you save a whole heap of money on buying software, it seems to have been a good choice for us. I’d be surprised if there aren’t some useful things that OpenSong can’t do, but I haven’t found them yet!
I think that Keynote is probably the greater advantage of having a Mac…it’s just so great! Opensong does look a bit like it was beaten with an ugly stick, but it does the trick most of the time. The lead sheet function is actually really handy; I use it quite a lot of the time! The newest beta (1.3) even has a logging feature so you can keep track of which songs have been used (good for your CCLI records).
I know, Tim. Reminds me of those Carlsberg ads:
“If Apple made church song projection software, it would probably be the best church song projection software in the world…”
Hi, I’m the web guy for Minehead Baptist Church. We’ve got an opensong resources page on our church site: http://www.minehead-baptist.com/resources/opensong/
We’ve got all four songs of fellowship books in opensong format (words only), some good backgrounds and a UK version of the NIV Bible (still work in progress!).
We love opensong, so easy to use!
That is brilliant, James - thanks so much for posting. We’ve just started using OpenSong on the Mac. We’d love to share some of your resources!