Ellenpoly

The only one of what I'd consider a "leader" that has been mentioned, that I can confirm is not available for Mac, is Noteworthy Composer.

http://www.finalemusic.com/ leads to Finale, Finale Guitar, Finale Allegro, Finale PrintMusic!, Finale NotePad and Finale NotePad Plus. An additional program shown there, SmartMusic, is not a notation program so far as I can tell.

http://www.sibelius.com/ will get you to Sibelius.

http://www.gvox.com/ will take you to Encore, and Music Time Deluxe. (Click Products)

I haven't updated my links to others recently enough to trust them.

If your friend has experience with notation programs, she should be able to tell whether one of these might be suitable. If she doesn't have any experience, Finale NotePad is a free download, and would give her a cheap look at how one works.

If she wants a "basic" make marks program with a little more features, PrintMusic or Finale Guitar might be okay for a reasonably priced entry. They're very similar except "Guitar" adds TAB capabilities.

If she wants "more sophisticated," I'm afraid she's looking at a major purchase (with my pocketbook, even with academic discounts) and she should look at the "big gun" programs at the top of the same pages to get an idea of what features are available. She'll likely also want to do a little searching on her own. Links in the other thread may still be helpful.

If she does decide on one of the "big bucks" programs, she should Google the program name and look around a bit. Many of these programs are availabe from resellers for less than the list price at which you can buy them directly from the makers. If buying from a reseller, check the version/rev numbers carefully.

Many of the better programs do have free downloads, and sometimes local music stores will have free "Demo CDs." I have an old Sibelius on CD that was free from a local store, and I seem to recall downloading a Finale demo some time ago.

John