I guess I just don't understand why Finale doesn't work better. I've been using it for decades—since it came out. I keep waiting for it to work reliably.

If I open a file from a few years back, it won't play, or it crashes the app, or the instrument sounds are gone, or the music font spontaneously changes.

I once had a staff system that just wouldn't display in page mode at 100%. It played back, it printed, it showed at 75% or 200%. It just would not show on the screen at 100%.

The lyrics tool is still as awkward as ever.

When I tell it to write for an instrument, it indicates when a pitch is out of range for that instrument. First of all, sometimes it's wrong. It is certainly acceptable to write for basses to a B-flat below the staff, so why does it tell me that's out of range? Second, it won't play back pitches it deems to be out of range.

Sometimes slurs or expressions will flip from below/above a note to the other side, but not usually. I need it to work reliably every time.

When I use the Change Articulations function, it doesn't, well, change the articulations.

The bleep sound to indicate a mistake is so much louder than the music I'm playing it's damn near painful.

I can't write registrations for organ and expect to hear them played back. I can't assign "pizz." to a string part for 8 beats then "arco" and hear pizzicato for just those 8 beats when played back. I can indicate a harmonic for harp, but it won't play back. I can indicate pedaling for piano (una corda, sustenuto), but it won't play back.

I can't make a vocal part "colla parte." I can't write a soprano part and indicate that it should be doubled by, e.g., flute.

If I switch from one percussion instrument to another on a single line, I won't hear it played back correctly. It's very common for a percussion part to show one instrument, then then switch to another. The whole percussion is just a mystery. Different instruments for different pitches? That's just weird. If I want a staff to be tambourine, I expect a note I write on that staff to sound like a tambourine.

It crashes a LOT.

Etc., etc., etc.

I guess I just don't understand how, after all this time, the app still struggles with pretty basic functions. There may be ways to do all these things, but it should be easy. I shouldn't have to go to this menu, then click on this tiny button, then know the equation for blah blah blah. Just make it work!!?!