Thank you to all who responded to my post (Darcy, Hiro, Karen & Hal) Firstly, I was mistaken when I originally said I purchased my 800 MHz PowerBook G4 in 6/2001. It was actually purchased in 5/2002. Since I consider my usage pattern to be relatively gentle, I opted to not purchase the almost-$400 AppleCare plan. So, unfortunately, I am ineligible for a free replacement optical drive that would be compatible with the Finale 2005 CD.
Secondly, before I called Finale Mac Support, I thoroughly tested my optical drive -- and it passed with flying colors with all kinds of CD-ROMS, CD-Rs, Red Book Audio CDs and DVDs. The only CD it spat out without mounting was the Finale 2005 installation CD. So I don't think that dust was the culprit. Thirdly, I successfully mounted my Finale 2005 CD on a couple of other computers, including a 4-year-old Dell PC laptop running Windows 98 and a 1-year-old 12" Apple iBook running Panther (it was through this system that I was finally able to install the program on my computer by setting up a temporary AirPort network and copying the files from its CD drive to my hard drive.) Fourthly, Finale Mac Support specifically told me that there were "a lot of complaints" about the Finale 2005 CD not working in optical drives on certain "older PowerBook G4 models", and that if they sent me a fresh CD it would almost certainly have the same problem. Their solution: either (A) find a friend with an optical drive that could read the Finale 2005 CD and transfer its files to my computer (which I did), or (B) replace my optical drive (or entire computer) with a newer model. So much for Mac hardware being "more compatible" than PCs! However, they did leave open the option that they could custom-burn me an installation CD that would work on my optical drive. I think I'll take them up on this offer. Brian Williams _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
