Upon hearing that Sibelius 7 had been released, I ordered a copy to check it out. I was especially interested in hearing their new sound library.

As I attempted to install it on my trusty Windows laptop, I received the following error message:

Of course, “Windows NT version 6.0” refers to “Vista,” but I understand. My laptop is happily running Windows XP, and Sibelius 7 requires a newer operating system. However, since I am currently in the middle of several projects, I’m not interested in braving the hurdles of installing a new operating system on my primary work computer.

That’s okay – instead I’ll install Sibelius on my iMac, which is already running a more current operating system.

Only now I’m starting to pay attention to system requirements. While my iMac meets the minimum requirements for Sibelius itself, it doesn’t have enough free hard drive space to install the new sound library, which requires 40 gigabytes!

Just buy a cheap hard drive, right? Except I’d also need more RAM as they recommend 4 GB and I have just 2.

Just buy some RAM, right? Except as I look closer, my 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor doesn’t meet their recommendations to use the new sound library either. Dang.

Since I can’t install their software on either my Mac or Windows computers, I’ve asked my employer to buy me a new Mac which will have an appropriate processor, hard drive, and RAM configuration. If this works, and I get a new Mac, I will already have a soft spot in my heart for Sibelius 7!

I’ll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, check out a few of the differences between Finale and Sibelius 7 (including our spectacular support) here, and please share your thoughts by clicking on “Comments” below.