[Dixielandjazz] Sibellius or Finale or Encore?

[Ministry of Jazz]

Shalom Jazz fans,

I still need a bit of help on the question of which direction to go in my
next music composition software upgrade. Encore 4.2  indeed does not work on
my new rig with Win XP. If I buy the new Encore for $400, I basically get
the same capabilities I already had, but it works in XP. I have tried Finale
before, but only a scaled down trial version, and I didn't like it. That was
about 4 years ago. Never tried Sibellius.

Questions:

1.  I have my entire Dr Jazz Band repertoire in Encore files as well as
other material I use to teach. Do either of the other two read Encore files?

2.  What significant improvements might there be in Sibellius or Finale over
Encore?

3. Can any of them save files to PDF or a graphics format that can be
emailed to players?

4. Is there any place to buy any of these programs at a significant savings
off the retail price?

Thank you for any help anyone can offer from this great list.

Elazar
Dr. Jazz Dixieland Band
Tekiya Trumpet Ensemble
Jerusalem, Israel
www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz
+972-2-679-2537