I am a big fan of both Sibelius and Finale and have done reviews on them here at MusicEdMagic in the past.  I recently received word that the newest version of Finale, Finale 2009 , is being released tomorrow, July 17th, 2008.  According to the press releases there are some nice sounding improvements to MakeMusic's flagship music notation software package, namely things like easier entry of expressions by simply dragging and dropping them into the score,several different playback enhancements to the sound library, and my personal favorite, easier creation of SmartMusic accompaniment files from ensemble scores!

Those that say that MP3 recordings of music have no soul may be more correct than they realize.  One of the things that makes music memorable is the emotional impact that it can have on a human being.  It turns out that compressing audio into MP3 format can actually strip out the pieces of the musical recording that help to initiate that emotional reaction in our brains turning a feast for the senses into little more than a metophorical hamburger and fries.