Skip to main content
Administrators only

Distribution Modes — Playlist vs Library

A feed publishes content to its subscribers in one of two modes — Playlist or Library — or both at once. The mode shapes how subscribers consume your content, what they can customize, and how much control they have. Pick deliberately: it's hard to change later without disrupting subscribers.

Playlist mode​

You curate one or more playlists. Subscribers receive the playlists as-is and add them to a screen. Updates you make flow downstream automatically.

How it shows up for the subscriber:

  • The feed's playlist appears in the Available Content → Playlists panel when they're building their own playlists.
  • They can add it directly to a screen, or embed it inside a wrapper playlist.
  • They can use the Subset editor to play only certain ranges of slides — e.g., slides 1–3 of your feed playlist, then their own announcement, then slides 4–10 of yours.
  • They cannot reorder, edit, or delete individual messages inside your playlist.

When to choose Playlist mode:

  • You want a "set it and forget it" experience for subscribers — they don't have to think.
  • The content has a natural sequence (a sermon series, a curriculum, a campaign).
  • You want every subscriber's screens to look very similar.

Library mode​

You publish a library of individual messages. Subscribers pick which ones to use and arrange them in their own playlists.

How it shows up for the subscriber:

  • The feed's messages appear in the Available Content → Categories panel, grouped by your category names.
  • They cherry-pick which messages to add to their playlists.
  • They can mix feed messages with their own custom content freely.
  • They cannot edit the messages — only choose to use them.

When to choose Library mode:

  • You publish lots of content and subscribers should pick what fits.
  • The content is modular — individual posters, individual seasonal slides, individual trivia questions — not a sequence.
  • Subscribers want fine-grained control over what shows.

Both​

The feed offers both modes at once. Behind the scenes there are two playlists — your curated playlist (playlistId) and your message library (libraryPlaylistId). Subscribers can use either or both.

This is how most large feeds work — Lessons.church, ChiroThinTV, Orange. They publish a structured weekly playlist for "set it and forget it" users and a library of extras for users who want to customize.

Switching modes after launch​

Be cautious. The two modes use different database links to subscribers' screens:

  • Switching from Playlist to Library doesn't auto-import your messages into the library playlist — you have to populate it.
  • Switching from Library to Playlist breaks every subscriber that was cherry-picking messages — they lose those references.
  • Going from either to Both is safe: you keep the original behavior and gain the second mode.

If you need to change a feed's distribution model significantly, the safest path is usually to leave the existing feed alone and publish a new feed alongside it — let subscribers migrate over time.

How content reaches the screen​

When a screen polls for its instructions, the API:

  1. Resolves the screen's schedules.
  2. For each scheduled playlist, expands it — including any embedded subscription playlists.
  3. For each subscription, loads the feed's questions and the subscriber's answers.
  4. Substitutes the answers into the feed's templates.
  5. Marks each message with isFeed: true so the device tracks impressions for analytics.

Subscribers see your content as a normal piece of their playlist — but you (the publisher) get the impression data via Stats.

Common architectures​

ArchitectureWhen it fits
Pure PlaylistSermon series, daily devotionals, trivia rotations — sequential content with a "right" order.
Pure LibraryStock photo collections, generic promotional slides, modular trivia banks.
BothMost commercial feeds — provide a default experience, let power users customize.
Playlist + library messages duplicatedAvoid — keep the canonical messages in only one place.