Make Music has announced that Finale Notepad is no lnger going to be free to download. Instead, it will cost 9.95$. The fee will not be such a big problem for educational institutions, but I’ll assume that paying the fee will be – that is, it is not that simple to pay for software in educational institutions. There is the justifying every payment issue with the one’s in charge, and the technical billing issues etc. I predict, or fear, that this may restrict many educators to start using music notation in their classroom. Especially, it might make them think about alternative products, since they have to go through the payment process anyway. Notepad was a great introduction in to music notation. I have always recommended it.

However, good thing is that they are improving the cheap software by adding features, and also publishing a Finale Reader for free download. Reader will play and print, but will of course not allow editing. I hope it is Internet friendly, that is, allows embedding notation pieces “in a Youtube like way” to progressive web-services with social media functionalities!

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