A question about something I'm so ignorant of that I don't even know what the question is...

But I'll try anyway ... what's the best site for storing and sharing files, like scores? I have noticed people using various ones for their scores here, and as far as I'm concerned, box.net seems to be easiest to use when you're reading someone else's score - it has a preview feature, and you don't seem to have to actually download the music in order to read it. This is important to me when I'm reading other people's scores as I have limited downloads before everything grinds to a slow dial-up speed. When I've posted photos I've used PianoWorld's own uploading facility but I don't think that's available for anything other than photos, is it? And do you scan your score to store it on one of these sites, or somehow transfer it directly from your computer? Probably silly questions, I know, but humour me just this once . Thanks for any input.

I use my own web site to store and share.

To transfer scores from notation program to a web page is a pain in the ***. I first copy one page of the music to clipboard, and then open a blank page in MS word and paste it there. Then I select the resulting pic and copy to clipboard again. Next I open Adobe Photoshop, paste it there and use the save for web option. That creates a 'name'.gif file that I can insert in a web page.

I'm sure there is a better way but this is my work around which took a lot of trial and error to figure out. BTW I use Music Publisher 6 for notation.

I've always used box.net (They have an iPhone app now, too!)

I also have a subscription to MobileMe that works well.

I scaned the page, saved as a pdf type file[*.pdf ]. No need to go to a word program. Then created a folder on boxnet and uploaded the pdf file to that folder [change properties to allow it to be shared by public].

Thank you for the information! It's been a steep learning curve for me since my computer-geek son left home - you lot are almost as good . Actually, you're better. I don't have to clean up after you.

Part of my problem is that I have an ancient version of Finale on an ancient computer, connected to an ancient but pretty respectable laser printer, on which I do all my scores. But the internet connection, and the scanner, and all the fancy modern-type stuff, are on this new(ish) computer. The two don't talk to each other. But if I simply scan a printed page and save it as a pdf, I think I can follow what I would need to do. Thanks again, all.

It's much easier to save directly to PDF format.

I don't know if your notation program does that. But if it doesn't, there are several solutions.

1. Get SnagIt. It's a screen capture program that can capture all or part of your screen, or capture from a window (it even scrolls through the window to capture everything).

That part is quite handy, but it doesn't solve your problem. But here's what does ... SnagIt sets itself up as a printer device. It doesn't actually print, though. Rather, when you choose File -> Print from any application, one of the printer choices will be "SnagIt". Select that "printer". It will capture whatever you chose to "print", and save it in whatever format you want (PDF, JPG, GIF ... just about anything). No cutting, pasting, fumbling, or cursing! Very nice.

2. There's another program that creates a pseudo-"printer". It's called PDF995. I got it as part of an income tax program a while back. (Not sure if it was TaxCut or one of the other popular ones that get advertised every year during tax season.)

Like SnagIt, PDF995 acts as a printer to capture whatever you "print", and saves it to a PDF file. It doesn't do screen captures, and can only save PDF files (not JPG or other image formats). But it should be adequate for saving scores as PDF, for subsequent posting on a file sharing service.

SnagIt costs about $50.

PDF995 came packaged with the tax software ... $10. It's also available for free at http://www.pdf995.com The free version has a nag screen. For $10, you can get a nag-free license.

There's lots of different free pdf creators out there that let you print directly to pdf from any program. Just google "pdf creator" and choose your favorite. I use SourceForge .