15 November 2004

Viewing music transcription files

The geniuses over at Allegro software try to make it as hard as possible for users to get their free viewer (Finale NotePad) by forcing them to register. As I had said many times before, Finale could simplify our lives and promote their software by taking the path that Adobe did to propagate their PDF format. They made the PDF viewer simple for users to download!

Let me explain what I had to do to get NotePad:

  1. I went to the login page
  2. I logged in as my email address with the password "password"
  3. They provided the serial number WNNR-31557245
  4. I downloaded the viewer and installed it
  5. I am pestered to "Locate Dealer" or view "Trade-up Offers" everytime I run it

Granted, it didn't take a PhD, but registration is completely unnecessary. Their format could become the accepted standard for distributing sheet music. Instead they discourage casual users by asking for their email address. Again, not horrible, but little inconveniences like registration only hold back wider adoption.

[ posted by sstrader on 15 November 2004 at 4:11:30 PM in Music ]