Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What specifications are required to use the program?
A. The program is designed to run on minimal hardware. A standard Windows Vista or Windows 7 configuration (2gb RAM, 60gb HDD, standard graphics) will be quite adequate for all functions. It works fine on Windows 8 and Windows 10. The Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 is also a requirement.

Q. Can I run Church Music Organiser on Mac/Linux?
A. No. Church Music Organiser is a Windows-only program at this point. I am slowly working on a plan to get it running on Linux and (hopefully) Mac, but this process is quite long and drawn out, and a lot of work has to be done to existing code to make it more compatible.
I am planning to make use of the MONO project which allows cross-platform development around the .NET framework, and I am in the process of fully exploring the changes that would be required for this to take place.

Q. Are you working on a Windows Mobile/iPhone/Android/Blackberry version?
A. Not at this time. The program is designed for Windows machines, with a full-sized display. The minimum recommended screen size is 800x600.

Q. Can I run Church Music Organiser without downloading Microsoft .NET?
A. Most current Microsoft operating systems already have versions of .NET pre-installed. Check the "Installed Programs" on your computer to see if you have it already. But otherwise, .NET 4.0 is required as a minimum.

Q. Why can't I download songs from CCLI?
A. First check that your user ID and password are valid. Then, check that you can manually log into the CCLI secure site and access the "SongSelect" area using Internet Explorer. If you can, but CMO is still having difficulty you may need to contact me for some assistance. CCLI regularly update their website, and sometimes that means that CMO needs to be updated as well.

Q. Where can I get copies of songs from (insert name of song book)?
A. Songbook copyright is complicated. If you haven't bought a copy of the songbook, you don't have rights to copy the music from it. If you have purchased a CCLI licence that includes access to the SongSelect service, you can download some songs from there. But at the moment I can't provide you with a copy of any particular songbook in the CMO format ready to go.

Q. I want to have the sheet music for all the songs we use. Where can I get it?
A. Again, the sheet music from songbooks is copyrighted, and without a CCLI Photocopy Licence you cannot copy sheet music from songbooks and distribute it. If you have a CCLI photocopy licence, you could scan a copy of that music and store it with the songs in the database, and then record the copy in the licence information. You can also download chord sheets, lead sheets and full scores from the CCLI SongSelect service. But you would need to do this yourself.

Q. Copyright laws are hard to understand. I can't make sense of it!
A. Me neither! Try going to the CCLI website at www.ccli.com for more information on how copyright laws work and are applied to church music.

Q. Can I copy your program and distribute it?
A. That's fine. Just don't charge anyone for it! And don't change the installer to add extra bits.

Q. It would be really great if Church Music Organiser could do (some cool thing). Can it do that?
A. CMO can do a lot of things, so it's probably worth checking out the user guide or training videos here. If you can't find the answer there, I'd love to hear about your idea, so contact me and let me know.

Q. Is it possible to get (insert name of Bible version) in CMO?
A. CMO can import Bible texts from two sources. You can download Bible files from OpenSong and import them into the system, or you can use a simple text file format and import that. You can find text file versions of the KJV on the web. Click here for one. Bible texts are controlled by strict copyright laws, and the process to offer any particular version of the Bible as part of CMO is beyond my limited resources at this time.

Q. Is it possible to link CMO to Bible software (like e-Sword)?
A. Not at this point. CMO needs to import Bible texts into its own format, so at the moment there is no way to link to existing Bible software. If the software you're using has an export function, CMO may be able to import the text, but it can't link directly to the 3rd party software package.

Q. How do I make background images available in the program?
A. You need to copy the images into the Church Music Organiser's Images folder, which is normally located in "C:\ProgramData\Church Music Organiser\Images". You can either copy the images manually, or use the "Copy Background Images To Images folder" menu item in the "Overheads" menu.

Q. Where can I get good background images from?
A. Care must be taken when selecting background images for overheads. If you use complex images, the lyrics will be overwhelmed and the congregation could be distracted by them and won't know what to concentrate on. If you use images with high levels of contrast (that is, images with large amounts of light and dark areas) the lyrics won't appear clearly. Look for images that are simple and supplement the lyrics of the song or the theme of the service. There are a number of places on the Internet where images can be bought and downloaded. You should think about the type of image you want to have displayed and search for images that match. Unfortunately I can't supply background images as part of the installation of Church Music Organiser.

Q. How do I use the program on multiple computers?
A. There are a couple of ways to use the program on multiple computers. You could do a backup on one machine, take the backup file to your other machine, and restore it. That would capture everything, but more than likely you'll end up with changes on both machines and needing to keep both. You could export all your changes to an export file, and import them on the second computer, but you would need to keep track of the changes so you include all the right information in the export. Or, you could set up the synchronisation system, which keeps track of all changes on each computer, and synchronises the changes using cloud storage. Click here for more info on synchronisation.