I think Finale has serious usability/convenience
problems for both the input and output stages:
"input", where you create a document, and "output",
where you format, tweak, and print it.
Input: I'm an experienced Finale user, and
so the input stage is no problem for me.
But, in the last year or so 3 people have
bought Finale on my recommendation. Each
initially came to me repeatedly with "how do I
do this..." questions, and then, after
a few weeks, confessed that they had given
up and switched to Sibelius. They are all
effusive in their praise of Sibelius's
simplicity.
Output: My last major project with Finale involved
28 files, each 2 pages. The last edit before
printing, the client phoned me with
minor changes in each doc. That took me
a couple of hours to do. Then I had to
generate Bb and Eb transpositions for
each doc, and supply PDF files. That
took me seventeen (17) hours, because
of constant difficulties with collisions
and problems getting the docs on 2 pages.
When I'd fix a collision on the master,
I'd still have collisions on generated
parts, which I had to tweak one by one.
Sibelius users tell me they never have
to do such tweaking for collisions.
Anyway, my impression is that for the last
10 years or so, Coda has focussed on adding
exotic features for limited uses, and done
nothing to improve the input or output
usability. Discussions of Finale versus
Sibelius always sound like PC versus Mac,
and Finale doesn't have the monopoly leverage
that Microsoft does.
Anyway, I don't mean this as an anti-Coda
rant. I just have the feeling that they
don't realize they have a problem, and/or
don't realize the nature of the problem.
I think their reaction to Sibelius's
increasing popularity will be
"Well, I guess we better add support
for 15th century Bavarian madrigal
notation".
Phil Shaw
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
