The short answer.
You do not need the Art Store. Samsung says The Frame shows your own photos at no additional cost. Any picture you put on it lands in My Collection, under My Photos.
The Art Store is Samsung's subscription: $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year in the US, for a library of thousands of works you can show while you pay. That is renting. The other way is owning the art.
Renting the art or owning it
The Art Store. A big library, chosen by Samsung, on a monthly bill. You have it while you pay for it.
Your own files. You pay once. The file is yours, on the Frame, on your laptop, on your phone. Nothing charged to you again later.
Free art is out there too, and some of it is good. What I make is a piece out of one artist's life, with the story of where it came from attached.
Putting your own art on the Frame
Way 1, a USB stick.
- Copy the art onto a USB stick.
- Plug the stick into the TV. If your Frame has a One Connect Box, it goes in the box.
- Put the TV in Art Mode, go to My Collection and choose your USB device. Choose Save at the top, highlight the pieces, then Save Selected.
Way 2, the SmartThings app.
Your Frame needs to be added to SmartThings first.
- Save the pieces to your phone's photos.
- Open SmartThings, go to Devices, choose your Frame, then Art Mode.
- Tap Add Your Photos, pick the pieces, then Save on The Frame.
The menus move a little between model years. The full walk-through, with the slideshow settings, is on my Samsung Frame guide.
What a year of art costs, owned
A year of the Art Store is $49.99, roughly 15 KD. Everything So Far is nine of my collections, 178 pieces, for 20 KD once. They are 3840 × 2160, the Frame's own size, so they fill it edge to edge.
Every piece I make is 3840 × 2160 PNG, 16:9. Every collection is signed, comes with a certificate and the story behind it, and downloads the moment you pay. The files are yours. Put them on every screen you own.