Ease of Use:  

Palettes and icons make this program a cinch to navigate and use; you'll be composing quality pieces of music in no time. Each icon includes a brief description of the tool that it represents cutting down the time needed to read a thick manual or go through a tutorial.

Though Print Music ranked excellent in the ease-of-use category, we missed being able to access all of the editing windows from the main page—a feature that the #1 product offers.

Feature Set:  

The most prominent feature of Print Music is a instrument to notation option—as you play into a microphone, this software will notate the music in real-time. This timesaving feature allows you to see if your instrument is hitting the right notes as you are playing.

Another helpful feature allows you to enter notes using your computer keyboard. Simply press the Caps Lock key and transform you computer keyboard from a letter-entering tool to a note-entering tool.

Print Music also accepts guitar and percussion notation so you can provide sheet music for the whole band. You can also import scanned sheet music for editing so you can modify previously written music.

Ease of Installation:  

We didn't encounter any problems during the installation of Print Music.

Input/Output Capabilities:  

We tested the step-time and real-time MIDI keyboard entry and found it to be user-friendly and work well. The playback feature did take a little more time to get used to, but after learning the ropes, we were equally impressed.

Print Music notates music in real-time, a great feature that allows you to see the music as you play or sing it.

Editing:  

You can select a note and drag it up or down to the desired position with just a click of you mouse. However, the delete function is a bit cumbersome. Either you have to erase with the eraser icon or select a measure with the measure tool icon, then hit delete to delete the highlighted measure.

We couldn't locate a mixer on Print Master. A high-end mixer to adjust incoming or outgoing files would add to a program of this caliber.

Help/Support:  

Print Music comes with a video tutorial and manual to guide you through the program and show you how to use the various features. In addition, just a click on most icons will access helpful words in the menu bar—if you click on a word, you can read information about the icon and its use.

The manufacturer provides phone and online forms to reach customer service with any questions.

Print Music is a great music notation program for the average user that won't break your budget. Tons of easy-to-use features, a number of input and output capabilities and a metronome to keep time, will have you composing music in no time.