Presentation files: In MediaShout, they're called Scripts. (MediaShout uses another type of file called a Box, for which there is no equivalent in PPT, but we won't go into that here.)

Slides: Typically, a slide in PPT is a graphic screen you create in the program itself. MediaShout doesn't use slides at all. It uses cues. While it's tempting to think they're the same thing, understanding the difference will help you make the transition to MediaShout. Think of a cue as a programmable shortcut to media located anywhere on your computer. The media's not in the cue – the cue just points to it. When you play a cue, the cue itself tells the program where to find the media assigned to it, then tells it when and how to play it to the audience.

Creating graphics: In PPT you typically create slides, or graphic screens, in the application itself. Indeed, you can use it much like a standard graphics application to create logos and other artwork for printing. MediaShout offers no equivalent. While some types of screens can be created in MediaShout (those containing song lyrics, Bible passages, and formatted text), complex graphics must be created in another application such as Photoshop or Corel Draw.

Why? Because MediaShout is fundamentally a media player, not a media creator, and if you want great looking graphics, full-fledged graphics program will give you better results than PPT anyway. Nonetheless, MediaShout does provide some media creation capabilities. Here's a comparison of the two programs' media creation and playback capabilities:

	MediaShout	PowerPoint
media type	create	play	create	play
song lyrics	Y	Y
scripture passages	Y	Y
text screens	Y	Y	Y	Y
live text	Y	Y
keyed text	Y	Y
graphics		Y	Y	Y
Flash animations		Y		Y
videos		Y		Y
sounds		Y		Y

Creating builds and animations: PPT lets you program objects (text and graphics) in a slide to appear one at a time with transition and animation effects. Text builds in MediaShout are handled with multiple-page Text cues: Each page of the document assigned to the cue contains one step in the build, and is treated as a subcue. Playing the subcues in succession (manually or automatically), generates the build effect. And though you can choose a transition effect that emulates an animation, there's no way to truly animate an object's appearance. For true animations, create a Flash file in another application.

Creating lyric screens: In PPT, you type (or copy and paste) each screen of lyrics on a slide and format the text manually. Depending on the length of the song and the size of the text, this may mean a dozen or more slides per song. MediaShout builds lyric screens automatically: Simply choose a song from the song library (a database of your songs) and assign it to a Lyric cue. The program automatically paginates the song into subcues to ensure that all its lyrics appear in the font size and layout you choose, over the background you want. This also means that you can change the formatting of a song without having to edit each individual screen.

Creating Bible screens: In PPT you type (or copy and paste) the scripture passage on one or more slides and format the text manually. In MediaShout you simply select the Bible version and passage, and the screens are created for you automatically according the font, layout and background settings you choose.

Displaying a presentation on a single-screen system: When a PPT presentation is played on a single-screen computer, the program automatically adjusts the monitor's resolution to match the presentation's resolution, then returns it to normal when you escape out of the presentation. MediaShout doesn't do that. Though it's capable of playing a presentation on a single-screen computer, it's designed for dual-screen use, so when you need to display on a single screen, you have to adjust the monitor's resolution manually. See Displaying Your Presentations, for details.

Moving a presentation: A feature in PPT helps you “pack” a presentation so that it can be loaded onto another computer. There's no equivalent feature in MediaShout: To transfer a presentation file and all its media to another computer, see Packing a Presentation.

Converting slides to graphic files: Individual slides and entire presentations in PPT can be converted to graphic files that can be played from MediaShout Graphic cues. (See Converting PowerPoint Slides.) Note, however, that while you're able to convert your lyric slides to graphics and play them from Graphic cues, doing so won't give you the superior editing, management, formatting and control features offered by Lyric cues and ShoutSinger. The sooner you get your lyrics into the song library, the more you'll appreciate what MediaShout can do for you.