Using your Dropbox account for sharing the Lyric Database

Using Dropbox outside of MediaShout to share databases is possible, but it can create "Conflicted Copies" of your database if more than 2 computers are accessing the file at the same time. When the database is opened, it creates an .LDB file (locked database). It is this file that prevents multiple uses accessing the exact same record at the same time and will only allow one set of changes to be saved.

NOTE: This is not the "Synchronize With Cloud" feature found in the settings of the Insert Lyric dialog. 

(If you are not sure where to find the original database, with MediaShout closed, go to C:\ProgramData\MediaComplete\MediaShout 5 (or MediaShout 6)\Song Library. If correct, you may see a file called songs5.mdb. Make a copy of this file for your Dropbox folder. Keep in mind, ProgramData is a hidden folder on some systems. If you do not see it, go to Folder Options and on the View tab, select to show hidden files, folders and drives.)

Once you have placed a copy of your database in your Dropbox folder, please do the following:
In V6, go to the Settings Tab of the Ribbon->General Settings->Lyrics Tab and click the Browse button to the right of the filename.
In V5, go to the Tools Menu->Settings->Lyrics and click the Browse button to the right of the file name.

IMPORTANT: There is one Dropbox behavior you will need to be aware of. This will avoid corrupting the database. When you turn on the computer, you will need to let Dropbox complete its initial sync BEFORE you open MediaShout. And you will also need to let Dropbox completely sync after you close MediaShout and BEFORE you turn off the computer.

What to expect if more than one user has MediaShout open:
If 2 users are EDITING the same database at the same time, it will always create 2 "Conflicted" copies of the database. For example, 2 users take the same 5 songs and each make different edits. One then saved their changes to the library and closed MediaShout. This created the first "Conflicted" copy of the database that is now found in the Dropbox folder. Then the other user saved his changes and closed MediaShout. This created a second "Conflicted" copy. Once MediaShout was reopened and the songs were observed, the changes made by the first agent were the ones saved to the database. Pointing MediaShout to the conflicted copy made by the first user showed no difference between it and the actual database.  However, pointing MediaShout to the conflicted copy made by the second user showed their changes they had made, but did NOT show any changes made by the first user.

If 2 users are simply ACCESSING the same database at the same time, we found a slightly different result. Pointing 2 computers to the same database and simply inserting different songs into the scripts (without editing and saving) and closing MediaShout creates only a single "Conflicted" copy. However, the "Conflicted" copy will always come from the computer that first opens MediaShout. This is the user that created the LDB file (when they opened MediaShout), but if no changes are saved to the database, the "Conflicted" copies are no different than the original. Although not intended as such, this can be used as a way to backup your library in the cloud.

We have not tested other cloud services (Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive), so feel free to experiment. Feel free to report your findings in the MediaShout 6 (Windows) User Forum