I don't recall any spyware either when I used it or heard about since - but their motive for giving it away is that they have lots of other products; each with "more features! More powerful!"

I am, as I said, very partial to Noteworthy Composer, and partially because the product is stable, versatile without being complex, and in many ways more suited to *my* needs - which started as being a way to hear musical scores since I neither read music nor play an instrument. The lyric feature is a bit kludgy - but I have found adding lyrics to be somewhat of a problem with EVERYT package I've tried - and I have tried many.