I'm looking to purchase notation/scanning software. I've read up on both and am leaning toward Sibelius 4 Pro, which includes PhotoScore Pro scanning software. Do any you have any experience with either software? Opinions? Any other options?

I use Sibelius 4 Pro and am really happy with it. Features I use and like

I often scan in a music score using photoscore and then edit to a smaller number of pages just the parts I want to play. This is not as easy as it sounds, but the scanning results have been getting better over time. I do as much editing of the scan as I can in photoscore before sending to Sibelius, it seems easier to add and subtract notes and rests in photoscore. I find I still have to throughly check to confirm all the multiple note chords came across correctly, and usually find many discrepancies. Syncopated tied notes are a problem too.

Once in Sibelius I work on layout, partly to print nice hard copy but also to create a graphics image to import into my MusicPad Pro - they use very little memory space and so open very quickly!

Another feature I like is the ability to select and transpose just the chord symbols, so I can give them to my guitarist if I need to transpose down for the singers.

Couldn't bear to work without it!

Graham

I have used Sibelius for 4 years and it is a terrific program. Finale is a very good program but Sibelius is much more intuitive and easier to learn. Sibelius is so intuitive I was able to learn to use the program quickly and hardly had to refer to the manual. I know others who use Finale and it took them a very long time to learn the program. They spent a lot of time studying the manual.