For example, the addition of a scroll view in Sibelius (which Finale always had) or dynamic parts (which came to Sibelius first) are really just interface tweaks. At an educator discount price of $100 or so, these upgrades are far too expensive and offer far too few new features to justify such a price. In an attempt to keep up in the notation arms race, both companies feel it necessary to release annual (in the case of Finale) or bi-annual (Sibelius) versions of their product. Both Sibelius and Finale offer supplemental programs aimed at educators and students. Both applications do an admirable job of creating professional-looking notation, and both apps have nearly the identical ability to record and playback notated music. As a result, both Sibelius 5 and Finale 08 contain virtually the identical feature set, use the same sounds (Garritan Personal Orchestra) for playback, and while the chassis might be different, under the hood the engines both deliver roughly the same amount of power. Of course, the head-to-head competition has forced both companies to add features, tweak the interface, and refine their products. The end user has been both the winner and victim in this ongoing skirmish.
FINALE TRIAL WITH GARRITAN SOFTWARE
Then came Sibelius from the UK, with the premise that notation software should be intuitive, elegant, and simple.
FINALE TRIAL WITH GARRITAN MANUAL
With a manual the size of a phone book (and equally engaging) and a learning curve as tall as K-2, to master Finale was a technological badge of honor.
Suffice it to say that at one time, Finale was the only game in town, the choice of composers and publishers everywhere, no matter how arcane or counterintuitive some of the aspects of it were. I don't wish to bore anyone with the easily researched history of notation software. As much as I enjoyed the act of hand copying music, it was also slow, frequently frustrating and inhibiting, and I would not want to return to those pre-digital days. I got sidetracked by nostalgia and memories of the good old days of handwritten music and the copyist's art. A few posts ago, I began to compare the two most recent iterations of the popular music notation packages, Sibelius and Finale.