Recordare LLC, an Internet music software and publishing company, has released a beta version of its Dolet for Sibelius software. Dolet for Sibelius is a Sibelius 2.1 plug-in for exporting files to the MusicXML format, which allows Mac and Windows users to share their music with people using Finale and other applications that can read MusicXML files.
MusicXML is a universal translator for common Western musical notation from the 17th century onwards. It’s designed as an interchange format for notation, analysis, retrieval, and performance applications. MusicXML is supported by over a dozen different programs running on Mac, Windows, and Linux systems.
Sibelius and Finale are music notation applications; both are Mac OS X compatible. Sibelius 2 was released last July, as was Finale 3.
Recordare’s Dolet software provides “universal translators” between music notation programs. Dolet for Sibelius is the second member of this product family. Dolet for Finale will be available on the Mac later this year.
You can use the Dolet for Sibelius beta plug-in to read Sibelius 2.1 files into Sibelius 1.4 (this requires Finale 2000/2001 and Dolet for Finale) and archive your Sibelius work into an open, text-based format that can be read by a variety of applications, including text editors.