Sure, Sibelius 6 came out over two weeks ago, but MakeMusic Finale 2010 has come out 32 weeks early. So there. Anyway. . .

Finale 2010 is now available, and features tons of impressive upgrades that makes notation publication easier, and yes, even prettier. Plus, it boasts a bunch of unique features that will make music educators in particular want to compose their own odes to joy (and Finale).

The new features, in brief:

• Percussion Notation
  The process of getting notes on percussion staves to look and playback exactly the way you intend them to has been made easier than ever. Now users can simply move their cursor across the staff to smoothly scroll up and down among all available instruments.

• Automatic Rehearsal Marks
  A keystroke can now be used to enter rehearsal marks; Finale automatically sequences them correctly and dynamically updates them when you delete, insert, or move any rehearsal mark or measure.
• Music Education Worksheets
  Finale now includes hundreds of ready-made, customizable, music education worksheets designed for K-12 students.
• Garritan sounds
  Finale now includes more than 350 instrument sounds from the makers of Garritan Personal Orchestra. Free new sounds include organ, a variety of electric guitars, five octaves of handbells, and a brush drum kit.
• Broadway Copyist
  Broadway Copyist is a new, hand-written font "inspired by the golden era of handwritten Broadway scores."
• Graphics Support
  Export as .JPEG, and .PNG and import as .JPEG, .PNG, .BMP, and .GIF in addition to previously supported formats of .TIFF, .EPS. Make your scores Hallmark-pretty!
• VST/AU Support & Updated Aria Player
  Finale now supports all third-party VST/AU Instruments and Effects, providing users with unlimited sonic possibilities. Updated for Finale 2010, the Garritan Aria Player simplifies the process of changing MIDI channel assignments.
• Scanning Improvements and More
  Smartscore Lite scanning interface enables users to specify the instrumentation so that your staves will automatically be properly transposed and configured for playback. Also new are transparent selection handles, exporting lyrics to a word-processing document, and improved help documentation.
• Measure Numbers
  Control measure number alignment, positioning, and fonts separately in your score and linked parts. Learn more.
• Chords
  Change or delete notes without changing your chords. Attach chords to measures – whether or not they contain notes or rests – and have the chords appear and playback correctly.

The full retail price of Finale 2010 is $600 US, with special group pricing, educational pricing, and a full-on upgrade and cross-grade pricing structure (users of Finale 2009, for example, can upgrade for only $119.95 US). MakeMusic is accepting pre-orders for Finale 2010 now.