<p>So of these computer music programs, is there much advantage of one over the other? Also, do you think it's essential to get the latest model, as a model or two back would be cheaper?</p>
<p>Our music major son just bought the student edition os Sibelius.
It's the program used everywhere at his school so it just seemed to be the right choice.</p>
<p>My husband, a professional musician, had THOUGHT he would prefer Finale. Now, he is quite impressed with the Sibelius.
I'm just the mom so can't offer any technical review.......I'm sure others will!</p>
<p>My son also has Sibelius and uses it a lot. I can't speak to the technical components either, but I know S is very pleased with it.</p>
<p>My S got Finale in high school (5 or 6 years ago). I know he found it challenging to learn. I emailed him to see what his current feelings were, and to see what his school had, and here is his response:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Juilliard has both the latest versions of Sibelius and Finale, and there seems to be a pretty even split in popularity. I have an old version of Finale that's pretty difficult to learn, but I think the newer versions are supposed to be better. I think the two programs just look to see what the other does better and then copies it discretely in their next version. All I would say is to pick one and stick with it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Download the trial for them both and decide what you like.</p>
<p>I have used Finale for years. Recently, I downloaded the demo of Sibelius. It was alright, but the program had trouble with formatting. Slurs on the top of a grand staff would literally cross over the slurs on the lower bar line. I thought that was over the top and stuck with Finale.</p>
<p>That being said, I will try Sibelius again when they come out with a new version. Finale's latest release, 2007, was buggy to the point where it was unusable when it was first released. It was only usable after they released a downloadable update. Finale support is unhelpful. If I thought Sibelius' functionality was at Finale's level I would switch immediately.</p>
<p>I've been a Finale user for several years, but I have also had experience with Sibelius. There isn't really much difference between the two: you can do pretty much the same things with both, although each has it's own advantages and weaknesses.
My school, NEC, has both on it's computers but it seems to me that Finale is far more popular. This probably has something to do with the fact that Michael Gandolfi, my teacher and one of the main composition faculty members, has been involved with the development of the program for more than 10 years.</p>
<p>My son tells me that Sibelius is the predominant program used at Eastman. He likes it better than Finale, but agrees it is probably what you are used to.</p>