Alternatives

• Nov 23, 2016 - 19:59

Are there any alternatives to Musescore? I really can't afford a Pro-account and I don't want to just make another account. I've tried pianoshelf but its just meh.

Comments

• Dec 18, 2019 - 14:41

To be clear: MuseScore - the software you install on your computer and use to create sheet music - is always 100% free, there is no way to pay for it even if you wanted to (well, you can make a donation if you look hard enough).

musescore.com - the website where you can share scores - has both free and Pro accounts. The free account is completely free - you don't need to give a credit card. The Pro account has a free trial that requires a credit card, but you don't need to do that, just sign up for the actual free account, not the free trial of Pro.

As for alternatives, there are plenty of free services like Google Drive or Dropbox etc where you can uplaod files to share. But they won't provide the fancy online playback and community features of musescore.com

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• Mar 7, 2020 - 01:54

Musescore has become a very important tool in my ongoing musical self-education at an advanced point in life. I could have not gotten to where I am now without it. I dread the thought of not having access without a significant subscriptions cost.

After reading the email notice I became very confused.

Please help me sort this out. This has been hard for me to articulate: your indulgences please.

My needs are very basic: and I do not have any need for advanced download and publishing features. It sounds like I do not need a Pro account but I want to make sure.

Do I have this right musescore.org will continue as free program-with all the current functionality?

Will one will be able to access all of the current composition and notation features without a paid account?

Does this change forebode the thought that any Internet access to copyrighted or public domain content will now require a paid account?

In other words, will I be able to download and save both non-copyrighted or copyrighted scores for private study?

If one wants to download copyrighted materials for private study will that require a paid account? Same for commercially publishing original works? This sounds like the main issue underneath the announcement?

Is a free account the same as basic account? Or is the basic account a variant of the full-blown PRO account (at a lesser price?)?

From the email.....
Does this following statements suggest that the download options for copyright material ceased on July 14th? Or did all downloads stop then? BTW I have recently downloaded some scores: could I do that only because of the grace period?

"I need to say that we have already closed print & download options for the basic accounts as of July 14th. You can read the details about this situation here." ....you have 7 days to print & download all the scores you need... does this include public domain works or will they still be downloadable?

Do I need to export my study-scores out of Musescore before the deadline?

Will the forum continue or will it go away?

Will there be any classes of membership, say for students and the elderly? Or is it the full price of $100 or so in the long run or no access to any commercial works?

Will the ability to find and listen to commercial works on the Internet go away?

Thanks for your clarifications.

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• Mar 7, 2020 - 14:55

No here on musescore.org can really address specific questions about the musescore.com, but we can certainly discuss the more general points:

MuseScore - the free and open source notation program - will always remain free and open source. Nothing can or will ever change that.

musescore.org - the website where you posted this - exists to support the free and open source notation program. It has never had any form of paid account and I can't imagine any reason why it ever would. Even if someone tried to create a paid support site, the same volunteers who produce the free and open source software would continue to support it, and same community of users would continue to participate.

Nothing about any changes to the score sharing website musescore.com could ever possibly affect your own scores on your own computer. That includes scores you created yourself as well as ones you have already downloaded.

The ability to find and lsiten to copyrighted music online has always come at a price. Whether that price is ads such as you find on YouTube or Pandora, or paid subscriptions as in Spotify or Apple Music, copyright owners need to be compensated for the use of their music. So any site that legally offers copyrighted music in any form needs to generate revenue to pay for the use of that music.

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• Mar 14, 2020 - 19:34

On this site and domain, the term MuseScore means the notation software.
And that is and always will be fully open source and free.

The online score sharing platform is referred to as musescore.com and indeed requires a pro subscription (since July, 14th 2019) to be able to download copyright protected material. Public Domain works and original works (if the uploader so chooses) remain free to download.

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