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Comment by prvc | Hacker News Reader

They should, at minimum, release a freeware file conversion tool.

It seems like the FAQ addresses this, no? Customers can use MusicXML, which is an open format. https://www.musicxml.com/

The tool would need to output MusicXML. And maybe PDF as a fallback, if they can manage that. Each version of Finale uses its own complex, proprietary, and opaque file format. With no way to activate new installations of the software, the content of these files will become harder to access as time progresses. They should do more to allow the software to continue to be activated, as well.

> The tool would need to output MusicXML.

Finale does export MusicXML already. And PDF.

https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/258438881308...

> They should do more to allow the software to continue to be activated, as well.

Why? BTW, it can continue to be activated for a year, and existing activations will continue to work after that, as long as the OS remains compatible. What else do you think they should do after development has stopped?

https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/258438881308...

And after that period, in one year and one day, any new installation of Finale will be impossible to activate without a keygen (and I am not aware of any having been released, so far, that work with the "final" version). This will make it impossible to recover the contents of .mus and .musx files by users who do not already have a previous working installation of Finale.

Yes, that’s correct. The time is now to convert your Finale files, not a year from now. You could easily get stuck before a year is up due to OS upgrades. And you will get stuck eventually for the exact same reason, OS incompatibilities are coming, guaranteed. Finale is officially dead. Right now while it’s still working is when people should archive the contents of their files.

Circling back to your top comment, my point is that the tools to do this already exist. No new tools or freeware is needed, the exporters are already there.

It is unreasonable for the software vendor to impose the task of converting a large mass of files (one by one!) on the users, especially within such a limited time frame. Most users have hundreds, thousands, or more such files to go through. As things stand, a very large amount of music is certain to become lost. A freeware convertor would obviate this particular concern. Very easy to implement, too; just don't disable the export and print functionality anymore in the main application after the "evaluation period" expires.

Are you sure Finale has no batch export? There are free & paid tools available on both Mac & Windows to help automate menu actions and batch convert things.

The product is dead, and like any product or business that dies, yes users may have a problem with their archive. It does suck, and I feel for anyone in this situation. I guess the lesson is that this is always the risk with all software, it might lose support. It happens, often.

I don’t see any reasonable alternatives. It doesn’t seem reasonable to demand that someone ending support for a product must turn around and write a new product to continue supporting the dead product. If they’re out of money, they’re out of money, and they can’t afford to retain developers to work on it.

Windows 11 has compatibility with 30 year old software. And will be able to be emulated far into the future.

If you are ending a product that users were using to make creative works, then preventing that product from working into the future is robbing the future of the ability to look back at these files.

Imagine a case where 5 years from now you find your backups with files from Finale. You won't be able to read them unless you have an active activated installation. Even if you had the installer backed up so you could re-install, it won't work.

The right thing to do, would be to enable the users to keep running this software, if they have the means + the rights, not activly prevent it from working. Especially if the only thing between a user and using their licensed software, is a license check.

Honestly, it's probably moot anyway: the pirate scene will almost certanly have the activation check patched out in no time.

Yes! There must be millions of Finale files out there that will otherwise become unreadable.

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