Farewell to Finale Notation Software...

I started using Finale in 1993 (v 2.2 and got EVERY upgrade). I used Finale almost daily until 2003. I did buy Sibelius when it came out in 1998 and also updated every time). Somewhere around 2007 or 2008 I began using Sibelius more regularly than Finale. I adopted Dorico the day it came out. I can tell you, there is a learning curve. But Dorico is far superior to Finale and Sibelius. Take the time to learn it. You will not be sorry.

I’m sorry to see what has happened to Finale (I still updated every time despite not using it simply for a love of what Finale did for me for so long). I always hoped Finale would rewrite the software, to restore its glory. But that it just impossible. Finale was a great tool. However, Dorico is exponentially better and is super powerful.

I purchased an upgrade to Finale 27 less than 2 months ago because I wasn't interested in Avid's subscription model. Dorico wasn't even a consideration given that over the decades Steinberg scoring software didn't even compare to Finale or Sibelius.

The powers that be at MakeMusic didn't wake up this morning and decide they were killing it today. This decision has been long in the making and I realized that today and I don't mean within the last 2 months! They did, however, take my money and other peoples money. Why? As a consumer, this is wrong. The same thing happened with Cakewalk and I along with many others got burned too. At least Gibson kept the server open so users could download and authorize their software. Somehow, MakeMusic can't do this? Instead, we're told, Hey! Dorico is the future! And you can upgrade for $149 USD!. Hmmmm!!! What they did was a big FU!

I've been involved in the music software world since I was in my late 20's. I'm now in my late 50's. I've been though software you could buy on floppy disk to crippleware to vaporware to software on CD and then DVD and software developers not trusting consumers where they have to jump through hoops just to authorize a purchase to software as download only and still jumping through hoops to authorize.

Just my rant! I'd like to see these companies be forced to make things right for consumers especially after just taking ther hard earned money.

I've used both and I like Dorico more, Finale was cool but its past it's time ...like me!

I transfer my Finale files over to Dorico, but it needs to tweeked a bit.

Well.. this is indeed a sad day. May all Finale music find a way to survive.

The dreaded email I did not see coming. It was like a punch to the gut. I watched a video about the XML formatting issues when you open a file from Finale into Dorico. It seemed minor if you know how to use Dorico. That is the rub. I have been using Finale since the Windows 3.5 version was released in the lare nineties. I'm an old dog that does not want to learn new tricks. Goodbye and thank you for all the memories.

Disaster. 35 years of work for me.

XML conversion stinks. I tried to convert SIB files over to Finale and it looked like hot garbage.

After struggling with Dorico for months, I highly recommend Musescore. It comes with a full orchestra with fully mapped articulations, and the user experience is excellent IMO.

Ain't Nobody Got Time for That!

They have yet to de-authorize my pen and paper 😉

Someone will definitely come up with converting app. Or else, Dorico will implement something in their software to make life easier. Cause, appart from learning a new program and customize it to get a new efficient workflow, the pain of conversion is the only other issue that make people freak out.

All of our church hymnal orchestrations are in Finale. Lifeway Worship’s entire hymnal of 700 songs plus 300 other arrangements are in Finale. This will cause a lot of problems and extra work from music leaders. I use Doric personally and love it but Had Finale on my computers for 20+ years.

All of our church hymnal orchestrations are in Finale. Lifeway Worship’s entire hymnal of 700 songs plus 300 other arrangements are in Finale. This will cause a lot of problems and extra work from music leaders. I use Dorico personally and love it but Had Finale on my computers for 20+ years.

well be ready to pay for every update unce or twice a year

Disgraceful. Steinberg clearly provided a financial incentive. Greg Dell'Era should be ashamed of himself. Steinberg is just buying its way into this market with, so far, an inferior product. Not allowing new authorizations after one year? What is the logic in that, unless Steinberg paid for it? What about making the source code open? Not likely, since Steinberg probably forbade that in the buyout.
Pretty much every piece of printed music out there is copied in Finale. The publishers are not going to take this lying down. I'm guessing there will be legal action, perhaps a class action. This is Steinberg blackmailing them into switching.
Finale users, don't buy Dorico. I have it, and it's still inferior. There may be a time when it gets better, but that's a while away. Pretty much every posting you see singing Dorico's praises is posted by a Steinberg shill. Finale is the gold standard. Stick with it as long as possible. If you're going to switch, give MuseScore 4 a try. Don't go on the basis of the previous versions. MuseScore 4 is much better, although it's still not a product for professional copying. But if we rally behind it and give them the resources, they will surpass Dorico.
Unless, of course, Steinberg buys them and closes them, too.
Interestingly, this will have implications far beyond what the short-sighted owners of Finale envisioned. An industry so dependent on Finale is going to have to buy Windows 10/11 machines and the Apple OS equivalents and keep them running for as long as possible, not updating to new versions of Windows which might not run Finale 27.

Bummer. 😢

I’ve routinely found Steinberg to be easier to deal with than Avid.

They may have been facing bankruptcy, forcing the abrupt timing.

I had to finagle with Dorico, but I have it up and running now. Noteperformer works fine with it, and I just gritting my teeth and inputting a score today to learn it. So far I like the articulations and dynamic placement, but I prefer Finale note entry, but getting better at Dorico. Word of warning to Finale users - All the Numpad settings are off by 1 in Dorico! i.e. now Quarter note is 6, not 5, 16th note is 4, not 3... etc. Best of luck to all! Never give up! Never surrender!

I've been using Finale since 1991. Going to be a slog, but the intro vids make it seem that Dorico does something better than Finale.

It’s frustrating that they don’t just open source the code and let the people do the work at the end of the day. It’s also frustrating that I’ve paid for this program under the idea that I had a perpetual license for the rest of my life and now they just up and pull the rug from us. And then have the audacity to not give us the transition period and give us the software for free.

Great attitude, excellent advice

hi you seem super nice, when u refer to "clients" who are they? and do u make a living with notation or do u do other stuff too. thanks!!!!!

Let's discuss a software users "bill of rights." This is bs for the company to pull out the rug like this on ALL of its users.

Hundreds of files, 25 years work, more than 3.000 pages of sheet music digitalized... yes, will the migration be a work for another life? 😅

Its problem is that it works too well. How do we continue to support it independently? Windows sucks and Doritos and coda/makemusic leadership also sucks. This is evil and will extort millions from composers and it needs to be fought tooth and nail

I think we are well within our legal rights as licensees to crack it

I got Musescore

This is so sad. I've used Finale for my sheet music since I was 14 years old, which was quite a while ago now! Man, this sucks!