What programs should I consider installing in addition to MediaShout 5?
If you plan on doing any video, K-lite is a highly recommended add-on. You can find a link to the version we recommend here: Codecs for Windows 7/8/10 with MediaShout 5
Additionally, if you plan on playing any MP4 or MOV video files, MediaShout does require that you have Quicktime installed on your machine (as most users do anyway because they have iTunes). If you need that, you can download it from here: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
Adobe Reader is required if you are going to play PDFs, (other PDF readers will not work).
In addition to all of that, if you are going to install Microsoft Office, we recommend Office 2010 for that. If not, but you still want to play PowerPoint files, you will want to download the PowerPoint Viewer from the link below. Keep in mind this is PPT Viewer '97, and is the only viewer that will work with MediaShout. PowerPoint Viewer 2007 will NOT work as Microsoft has removed the portion of code that allows programs like ours to use them. Also note, Viewer '97 does not work on Windows 8 and does limit the playback to .ppt files. If you need to play .pptx or are running Windows 8, please purchase and install Office 2010. You can find the Viewer '97 as a zip file at the bottom of this page.
What about my song library, Bibles, and Media files?
If your song library and media are on a different drive, here is what you will want to do:
a. Install MediaShout 5 in the standard default location. It will place a My Shout folder in the C:\Users\Public (this is where your default media will be stored) as well as additional data in C:\ProgramData\MediaComplete\MediaShout 5. This second location is where your MediaShout 5 lyrics, Bibles, Templates, etc. will all be stored.
The V5 database also includes the same stock Lyrics that the V4 database includes. If you use these songs, the ones modified in V4 will be skipped because they are also in V5. If this is the case, please do the following:
In MediaShout V4,
1. Clean up the database by deleting the songs you do not want.
2. Go to File/Song Library/Compact and Repair Library
3. Export the V4 database as a Song data file v4. This will give you a clean file. preserving play orders and any groups you have created.
But before you import, please do the following in V5,
1. Delete all the songs currently in the database. If you click the first one, scroll down to the bottom, hold down the Shift key as you click the last one, all will be selected. Then right click and Delete Songs.
2. Go to File/Lyric Library/Compact and Repair Library.
3. Import the exported V4 file.
Keep in mind, if you have used a custom Song ID when entering songs, and you used that ID on multiple songs, only one of the songs with the same ID will be imported. If this is the case, I will need a copy of the V4 database you exported so I can replace the ID's with sequential ones.
b. To get your lyrics into MediaShout 5, open MediaShout 5, go to File->Lyric Library->Import Lyrics->From Files. When the box pops open, click browse to navigate to your old lyric library (if V4.5 is on an XP system, it will be located probably either in C:\My Shout\V4\Song Library\Songs4.mdb OR C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\My Shout\V4\Song Library\Songs4.mdb. If Vista or later, it is C:\Users\Public\My Shout\V4\Song Library\Songs4.mdb) You may also need to do a search, but find the most recently modified version of Songs4.mdb and then click Import. That will bring all of your songs over. Since your media is in a different location than your Lyrics believe it to be, you may have missing media files when you insert lyrics into your script. You will either need to relink them or remove them from the songs. If you would rather remove all media from the lyrics before you import, then open MediaShout V4.5, choose to Export Lyrics as a Song Text File and then import that into MediaShout 5 and it will only bring the text, copyright info, and play order (note: this also works with MediaShout 3.5).
c. As for Bibles, those are all new in MediaShout 5. You won't need to transfer your V4.5 Bibles. Instead, simply open MediaShout 5, go to Tools->Resource Manager and then select the Bibles you want and download the individual ones from there.
d. Finally, your media files can stay where they are on your system. In the Media Deck in MediaShout 5, you can create Fast Folders that link to the various Media Folders on the other drive so that you can quickly get to your files for backgrounds, videos, etc. Note: if you download the Free Media from the Tools->Resource Manager in MediaShout 5, that media will get placed in the C:\Users\Public\My Shout folder. Once it is downloaded, you can then move all of that media to wherever you would like to put it.
So do I have to install V4.5 on my computer before I install the upgrade to MediaShout 5?
MediaShout 5 is a completely separate program of V4.5. The upgrade only requires your V4.5 license code and nothing else to complete the installation and license. It is not required to install V4.5 on your new machine. However, we designed the programs to be separate so that you could have both V4.5 and 5 on the same machine (they just can't run at the same time). The advantage to this is that it allows you to train your team during the week on MediaShout 5 yet still run V4.5 until they are comfortable with the switch. You could do this on the new machine, but if you do, install V4.5 before you install MediaShout 5 to avoid any sharing conflicts. Otherwise, take the time to transition so that your team doesn't feel overwhelmed learning a new Windows OS and a new presentation program.
What about my V4.x license?
When you first install and activate V5, it will ask for your Version 4.x license code (which starts with a 2032). It will only do this the first time. When you insert that, it will automatically pull over all of your V4.x registration as well as any additional activations you have purchased along the way. It will also make your V4.x license INACTIVE, which means you can no longer do any NEW activations of V4.x now that you have V5. However, as stated above, any existing installations of V4.x will continue to work as they always have. If you would prefer to have activation control over both V4.x AND V5, we encourage you to purchase the full version of V5 instead. If you choose this route, please make sure you contact our team and let us know both your old V4 code and your new V5 full code and we will manually register and provide you with any additional activations you may have already purchased to go into your V5 account.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to email us at support {at} mediashout {dot} com and we will be happy to help.