MakeMusic has announced the simultaneous release of Finale Songwriter 2010 and Finale PrintMusic 2010. Both music notation software packages include new features and provide compatibility with current operating systems and files created with Finale 2010, MakeMusic's flagship software package.

With a list price of $49.95, SongWriter lets songwriters, teachers, band and choir directors, church musicians, students and other musicians create publisher-quality sheet music with instrumentations of up to 8 staves. SongWriter includes tools that inspire creativity including Drum Groove and Band-in-a-Box Auto-Harmonizing. With SongWriter they can hear their music played back using hundreds of built-in sounds, share their music with others using the free downloadable Finale Reader and create .MP3 files for use on iPods and beyond. A powerful mixer, flexible chord input, easy percussion notation and more control over the printed page are just a few of the features added in this version.

PrintMusic has a list price of $99.95. It includes all the features of SongWriter, and much more, including music scanning, MicNotator, the ability to import/export graphics and a new handwritten font. PrintMusic users can arrange pieces of up to 24 staves and extract individual parts from the score. Features new to this version include automated rehearsal marks, flexible chord input, easy percussion notation and support for VST/AU instrument and effects plug-ins (sold separately).

"SongWriter and PrintMusic represent incredible values in the world of music notation software," stated Ron Raup, MakeMusic's CEO, "and these upgrades simply increase their advantage. Furthermore, the simultaneous release of both updates in early September means that retailers will have the latest version on their shelves in plenty of time for the holiday season."