EasyWorship 7 Worship Software [Review]

EasyWorship 7 worship software shipped recently with a few new features and an attractive price for existing customers that already own version 6. Owners of MediaShout, Pro Presenter, Proclaim or one of the other worship software tools for presenting in church will want to give EasyWorship 7 a close look, especially if you're not pleased with what you already own. The review below focuses on the new features and includes a brief description of the user interface and elegant new design of this version.

EasyWorship 7 New Features

EasyWorship 7 boasts a few new features including Alpha Channel videos. That means that you can present videos with transparency. Presentations can include see-through videos so that the person creating the presentation can build multiple layers with video on top of other slide elements in the background. Maybe you want to display text on the left side of the screen and have a looping video that only covers the right half of the screen. The new Alpha Channel video support will let you do that without needing to create an entirely new video formatted that way, and such videos can also be reused.

The new feature supports layers, so you can place a still background with text and an Alpha Channel video with part of the screen transparent on top, bottom, or side-by-side.

Before, the user interface would only show in a light, mostly white theme. Now you can work in a dark user interface theme. This keeps the computer screen from looking too bright in a dark room, which could bother other worshippers. It's also easier on the eyes in such settings for the person controlling the software.

EasyWorship 7 now also offers an iOS app (but not Android yet) that will control the software remotely with an iPhone or iPad. Control the Schedule in EasyWorship to move from slide to slide. The app also works like a remote viewer. A person with impaired vision could load the app and view the contents of the screen on their iPad or iPhone for ease. Those on stage could use the app on an iOS device as a prompter, so the worship team or pastor could run the app on their tablet on the stage or just view the slides while the one controlling the presentation from computer advances the slides. See the video above for a demo of these features.

NDI Live Capture

This new version also supports Network Device Interface (NDI) as Live Output and Capture. This means that presentations can be sent to external screens and if you have a mixer it can be sent to a video streaming or broadcasting systems for live output to the Internet or to recording devices or computers used to record the worship service for later broadcast on TV or the Internet. Plugging both the computer and a camera into a mixer can also give a more professional looking broadcast of your worship service.

The NDI Live Capture feature receives input from any source that works as NDI Live Output, including another piece of software or a video camera for image magnification. Very large venues often show the video of the people on the stage on their screens. Easy Worship will take the video from a camera and send it to the display so you can present the video underneath the lyrics or Bible passage.

Other useful and key upgrade features include:

• Copyright information on the first slide of a lyric only
• Subscription pricing (more in the pricing section below)
• Visual cues to show where you are on the slide schedule
• Undo/Redo feature in slide editor

EasyWorship 7 User Interface

You can get a more detailed description of the EasyWorship user interface by reading our review of version 6. EasyWorship 7 did not change the basic look and function of EasyWorship too much.

Along the left, you see the list of slides on the Schedule. Things can be added from the tabs at the bottom. Click each item to see previews in the center. Across the top, you still get the basic toolbar with two zones on the far left and far right ends. See below.

The far left end shows buttons to create a new Schedule (each presentation file), open a new Schedule, and save the Schedule. There is also a link to the store where users can buy new media for use in EasyWorship 7 and a button to open the built-in web browser.

The web browser lets you open pages like YouTube to play a video in fullscreen and add that to the Schedule by clicking the Schedule button. This adds the video to the list on the left. When you go live and click this slide it will start the YouTube or Vimeo video. Be sure to obey all copyright laws while doing this. Of all the worship programs I’ve tested, EasyWorship handles this the best.

The Remote button sits next to the Web browser button. Use this to connect the program to the iOS app.

On the right end of the top toolbar (see above) you'll see buttons for controlling the presentation. They are as follows:

• Go Live – Puts the software in live presentation mode.
• Alerts – Shows message alerts like nursery warnings or “your lights are on” messages.
• Logo/Black/Clear – Shows an image, blanks the screen or clears the current contents of the screen.
• Live – Turns on or off the live presentation.

Having both the Go Live button and the Live button sounds like it duplicates the same feature, but the Go Live button actually starts the presentation so that it's showing content on the external display. The Live button doesn't stop the presentation. It just turns on or off the external display view. They should change the name of the “Live” button to something like the “second screen” to make that clearer.

To add media, click the tabs on the bottom portion of the screen. You can add songs, Scripture, media (images, videos, DVDs, audio, etc.), PowerPoint presentations, and themes.

The themes tab makes it easy to customize how the various presentation elements look. For example, add some Scripture from the Scripture tab. Then drag one of the presentation themes from the themes tab on top of the verse in the Schedule. You can add different themes to different verses or use the same theme for an entire passage or range of verses making all the slides look the same or different. It works the same for lyric slides.

Like many worship programs, EasyWorship 7 supports displaying DVD video. My denomination still sends out missionary videos on DVD. I can put them in the DVD player on my computer and pick only part of the video to show to the church. Use the Video Clip Editor for this.

While working on a particular slide, there's an editing feature that lets the user easily change how the slide looks. Open the slide editor and move elements on the slide around or add/subtract parts. The update added an undo/redo feature to the editor. In addition, the EasyWorship 7 editor includes a spell checker. Anyone who's ever misspelled text on a slide and shown it during worship will love that little gem.

The editor quickly adds media, other Bible verses in a Scripture slide, or changes the theme of Lyric and Bible slides. This makes EasyWorship one of the best for creating rich worship presentations. It’s aptly named EasyWorship.

EasyWorship 7 Pricing

Buyers can get EasyWorship 7 either by paying a one-time price of $499 or by subscribing–something they’ve added for version seven. The existing customer discount price costs 50% less for owners of version 6. Buyers can subscribe on a monthly basis for $18/month for congregations under 100 attendees on up to $30/month for those over 999 attendees. Pay annually and it starts at $180/year. Congregations over 999 attendees are billed annually for $25/month.

It doesn't make sense to buy EasyWorship on the subscription basis unless…

• Your ministry can't afford the full price all at once
• You need to install it on more than one computer
• You think you’ll need tech support after the first 90 days

Unfortunately, EasyWorship technical support costs extra after the first 90 days. People needing support will pay $35 per incident unless you buy with a subscription model. So keep that in mind when choosing between the one-time fee and the subscription fee.

For churches that need to install the program on two computers, EasyWorship offers two different license options for one-time purchases. The $399 Single License is per computer. The $499 Campus License is for any computer within one location. So, you could purchase the $499 Campus License and it would cover the worship service computer and the youth worship computer and the computer in the small auditorium, as long as they are all located on the same campus.

With the subscription, users will also be able to access new features as they become available.

Recommendation

EasyWorship 6 users should consider upgrading to EasyWorship 7, especially if the new features will fix some issues you experienced with the older version. Access the existing customer discount before summer since the half off deal ends June 30.

Are you looking to replace your current worship software because you're not happy? You should definitely give EasyWorship 7 a close look. The user interface makes it easy to learn and create new presentations. The built-in browser lets users display things like YouTube video more easily than any of the other programs.

I don't normally suggest subscription models, but people who want all the features, unlimited tech support and plan to upgrade every year, should get the subscription instead.

I won't switch from what my church uses now since we just bought an upgrade and the training volunteers to use something new takes a lot of effort. However, in a year when it may be time to upgrade, I'll seriously consider EasyWorship 7 since a new version of our current program will force me to train volunteers anyway.

Download the demo and try it out. It runs with a watermark on the presentation screen, so you can’t use it in a worship service. The demo’s free, so definitely give it a look.

Mac users will need to look elsewhere. EasyWorship runs on Windows 7 or newer only.

When pricing EasyWorship 7 remember that you'll need to buy most of the modern translations of the Bible for $29 each. When you download the demo, look at the Bible screen to see what’s labeled free. That’s what the software gives users for free. I use the CSB as my primary preaching translation and it’s not yet available, with no announced plans to add it. I also use the ESV, NKJV, NIV, and NASB at different times. Guest speakers often want the KJV, which comes free. But the others will cost an additional $136 on top of the $500 or $18/month or $180/year subscription costs.

Overall, EasyWorship 7 is a very robust worship software that can take your church's production to the next level with ease.