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File Upload Enhancement

After much anticipation, the new file upload features have been applied to the Beta version of WorshipPlanning.com 3.5. With this enhancement, churches are able to:

– Upload multiple files per song
– Specify that MP3 type files are “stream only” (and thus cannot be downloaded).
– Link files to Teams.
– Link files to Content Library items.
– Manage ALL their files (services, songs, teams) from a single page appearing as a new “Files” library tab.
– Upload many, many more files (see the next paragraph).

In addition, the way disk space usage is measured is changing. Currently, churches are given 3-30MB of disk space for service file attachments, and up to 10MB per song (in a single file – if subscribing to the Song Files feature). With this new enhancement, disk space usage will be based on files in your files library, regardless of whether they are service, song, or team files. For this beta phase, all churches will have 5GB of disk space. The exact amount of disk space available to you after the beta may vary.

There are a few important details you need to be aware of about this feature. If you have any questions about these, please let us know.

1. This feature will use a new technology required us to migrate the files currently uploaded to a new system. We successfully migrated 99.9% of the files. Most of the ones we were not able to migrate appeared to be uploaded with errors (strange characters in the file name, size of 0 bytes, etc.)
2. Files you upload in the Beta version of WP WILL NOT be available in the older version of WP, including the older version MyWP. Helpers can now access a Beta version of MyWP by logging in to the MyWP site and click on the “Beta” link on the right side.
3. Uploaded files WILL NOT be stored on the WP servers. To allow for larger disk quotas, we are using a third party service that is fast, reliable, and well established.
4. Files uploaded to the older version of WP will not be available immediately on the beta version. We have to run a manual migration process to get files from the old system to the new, which we plan to run every few days.
5. Files deleted from the older version of WP will not be remove from the beta version until we manual do a clean up process.
6. In some cases, the file names have been changed to accommodate requirements of our new system. For example, the # symbol has been replaced with “num”.
7. The largest file size that can be uploaded is 100MB (currently).

Other questions you’ll probably have…

Q: If I didn’t have “Song Files” before, will I have it now?
A: Yes. Now that we have increased disk space, we don’t care if you use that space for song files, services files, team files, or anything else.

Q: Our church paid for Song Files in the past. We will not need to any longer?
A: Yes and No. We will actually be changing our pricing plans in a way that should be simpler and cost effective for you. Rather than getting the extra features like Song Files and 360WP a la carte, there will be various “packages”, which will include a specific number of Planner accounts and disk space (ranging from 100MB to 20GB).

Q: Our church paid for extra disk space for service files that we obviously don’t need now. Can I get a refund?
A: We are still working out the details on how we plan to handle this. The short answer is: we have no desire to keep your money if you feel it can be spent better in other places. As we get closer to the full release of WP3.5, we will work with churches in this situation.

Q: Am I allowed to upload copyrighted files?
A: WorshipPlanning.com provides you a places to store files in the same way a network file-server or flash drive would. Since we do not have the resources to enforce copyright laws, we put the responsibility of “staying legal” on the church. There are several websites that specialize in helping churches with this copy right issue, because it goes well beyond sharing files in preparation for a service. One site worth checking out http://www.churchca.com/.