Hi all, In my experience, Finale 2011b is one of the best Finale versions for converting older Finale files. When we do Finale file translations here, we need to get files into at least Finale 2004 to export the MusicXML with the best possible results - and the later the Finale version, the better. We used to have to go through Finale 2008 to avoid problems, but 2011b seems to read the old files directly very well. It's now our version of choice for converting old Finale files into other formats.
MusicXML is designed with archival needs in mind. When moving Finale files back to an earlier version, most of the lossiness comes during the import process, not the export. It is technically possible to add formatting data to the import, but we haven't seen enough customer demand for that feature to justify the development expense. Perhaps that is changing? We are currently in the process of designing and developing MusicXML 3.0, which should be released within the next few months. If you are interested in participating, signup for the MusicXML mailing list is available at: http://www.recordare.com/musicxml/mailing-list At the moment, the combination of original source, MusicXML, PDF, and digital audio files makes for a good (if imperfect) archival file set for music notation files. As Dennis mentions, this is a small part of the electroacoustic music archival problem. But for many composers and songwriters, it solves a lot of the problem. If you have files in other formats that you need to move into Finale, our file translation and preservation services may help. We keep a collection of older hardware and software around to help us offer this service. There's more information on these services at: http://www.recordare.com/company/consulting/file-translation-request Does anybody have a lead on a fully working System 7 Mac in the Silicon Valley, California area that could run Music Construction Set and other old Mac notation software? It would also need support for floppy or other removable media so we could move files back and forth. It would be great to have that to expand our collection of older Mac hardware. We already have an iMac running OS 9 that we use for Mosaic and HB Engraver files. Best regards, Michael Good Recordare LLC _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
