Finale Greed within a year! - TCDetroit

My summer upgrades to OSX.3. Finale-04 & DP4
took some time and funding to achieve.
I haven't even taught a semester with the new update(2004) when 2005 comes out.
Their comment is oh well, Pay again.
"Your 2004 upgrade order was placed on 6/04/2004 and the free upgrade offer would only apply if you had placed your order on or after July 15, 2004."Customer Support MakeMusic!, Inc.

Purchased 36 Finale 2004 licenses, June 6th then Finale 2005 comes out Aug
17th with a "within 30-days"(July 15) free upgrade path.
(No notice when purchasing our increased site license.)

It is hard enough to keep a school up to date but
If a student goes and gets Finale 2005 the Application CAN NOT save as earlier version (This is a crock of lame programming)

I like Finale (probably because I used it for 7 years)
Sibelius or others, may now get some serious consideration.
It is difficult to change a programs core software but Finalemusic is giving us the incentive.

Big turn off for this institution.

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Sunday, August 22 2004 @ 04:29 AM PDT

One word: Overture - hkim

Geniesoft's Overture is now OSX native and runs circles around Sibelius and Finale in terms of ease of use. Sibelius requires one to dip into the manual (a thick one) over and over to perform the most mundane task (see my review of Sibelius!). Overture absolutely *kills* Sibelius in terms of handling lyrics as well and is cheaper. Speaking as a professional musician who often has tight deadlines, Sibelius is why something like Finale is needed.

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Friday, November 12 2004 @ 06:27 PM PST

One word: amatuer - ipbrjt-3

One word: amatuer.
Professionals use Finale (and more and more, out of frustration with Make-Music, are now trying Sibelius). Finale has indeed been raping its user-base by asking overpriced upgrade fees all the time, and I am extremely frustrated by this (having spent over $1000 on it over the many years of use). If more and more people switch, then Coda-now-Make-Music truly gets what it deserves. Overture may look easier on the outside, but it cant shake a stick at being a complete professional notation software package. Try doing a large orchestral score with complex modern notations and graphic avant-garde symbols you have to create. Enough said. You have a problem with reading the manuals and actually learning the programs?..then go ahead and use Overture...it'll be really obvious to the other pro musicians. I knew a composer who gave a conducter his orchestral score written in Overture, and it was truly a joke (not the piece, by the way...just the notational representation of it). There were so many problems with the program's output, and the parts rendering were so amatuerish, that it got snickers from the orchestra. Half the rehearsal was spent counting out the measures with everyone to make sure thay were correct. The poor guy actually had to hire a Finale person to quickly do it right. He spent more on paying the guy, than purchasing the program itself! If you want anyone in the know to take you seriously, use a pro program...and actually learn it (dont just whine about something you haven't learned). There are TONS of videos (a lot included with the programs) and all sorts of help in learning Finale and Sibelius.

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Sunday, November 14 2004 @ 09:55 PM PST

three words: non working musician? - hkim

You aren't any working musician then. I do music that I get paid for and Overture and Sibelius both do a decent job, decent enough that I've had no complaints from professional musicians. Mind you, they have their faults and can bet sloppy but for the working, professional musician, it does the job and makes the money. I get paid more in a year than you'll ever see from a lifetime of scoring your "avant-garde" music.

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Monday, February 14 2005 @ 09:58 AM PST

well? - dbmite

One doesn't need Finale in addition to Sibelius because Finale is the only noation program one would need. Finale produces the most professional looking scores. Sibelius produces sloppy scores and I might add those scores look mighty amateurish.

Sibelius is fine for schools and those learning a notation program for the first time. Otherwise, Finale is still the best and has way more users than Sibelius. I have used both programs and realized there was no way I could submit such a sloppy Sibelius score to a publisher.

Finale can do it all!
Sorry

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Saturday, November 13 2004 @ 04:00 PM PST

well? - ipbrjt-3

This is not about me, its about irresponsible comments from folks who obviously aren't professionals. I use many programs, and teach them as well- from a public music school setting to University level. The programs you cite are not the highest level for professional notation, sorry. I score for films, I make arrangements, as well as compose. I make my living from music, and I do ALL types of styles. I'm established, and I have nothing to gain, lose, or prove. You, on the other hand, have some quite serious issues.

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Saturday, March 10 2007 @ 04:51 PM PST

well? - ipbrjt-3

by the way, this comment was aimed at Mr. "Non Working Musician" over there...not the "Well" comment.

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Saturday, March 10 2007 @ 04:57 PM PST