MuseScore, a good alternative for Finale Notepad 2009?

• Sep 5, 2008 - 10:07

MakeMusic announced 1 day ago the that their Finale Notepad version of the Finale suite, will get complete MusicXML support in the upcoming 2009 release. This interesting news comes however with a price tag. From now on Finale Notepad will cost $10. So, is there a free alternative? Yes there is: MuseScore

A quote from the Finale Notepad press release:

In the next few weeks we plan to release Finale NotePad 2009 with even more features, including an all‐
new Expression Tool and the ability to import/export MusicXML files. It will continue to include free on‐
line support. At the same time we will begin charging $9.95 for the NotePad 2009 download. 

A rather interesting business decision from MakeMusic since many Notepad users might flock away and perhaps check out free alternatives. One of the alternatives is MuseScore, a free music notation program which is almost ready for prime time. The 1.0 release is coming closer each day. And it's worth to mention that MuseScore does already come with full musicXML support.

For all the current MuseScore users out there, as well as for the developers, let this news be a reason to start spreading the word of MuseScore. If you happen to fall on a blog post concerning the Finale Notepad press release, don't hesitate to leave a comment and point to http://musescore.org

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