Professionals, Students and Educators Gain Competitive Edge With Innovative Features That Enable Greater Collaboration and Enhance Creative Control

TEWKSBURY, MA -- (Marketwire) -- 05/19/09 -- Avid® (NASDAQ: AVID) today unveiled version 6 of Sibelius®, the world's best-selling music notation software, which includes an innovative toolset designed to provide aspiring and professional musicians with a more efficient approach to music composition. Designed by musicians, Sibelius 6 offers a number of new features including a unique Magnetic Layout tool that cuts score preparation time in half. Students, educators, academic institutions and composers can also take advantage of Sibelius 6 workflow improvements that facilitate greater collaboration, classroom management, and creative control, through the ability to track progress during review cycles and deliver smooth integration with Digidesign® Pro Tools® systems and other Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs).

"As a company comprised of many musicians and composers, Avid understands the value of identifying and addressing the specific needs of those working in the classroom, home office and professional studio environments. Today's release of Sibelius 6 reflects specific feedback from thousands of customers," said Tex Schenkkan, Avid's vice president and general manager, audio. "This version delivers unique features which will help composers and arrangers realize their creative dreams and save time as they make music for listeners and performers everywhere -- from television and movie screens to live concert performances."

What's New in Sibelius 6?

-- Magnetic Layout - dramatically cuts the writing time in half between the moment of inspiration and the final printed score -- delivering the added assurance that all individual objects are positioned conventionally on the score where musicians expect to find them. The software automatically spaces and lays out scores to look professional and clear from the very first note. Previously, aligning individual score objects required time-consuming manual adjustments which now occur transparently to the user.

-- Versions - enables educators to efficiently track student progress, spot plagiarism and promote collaboration. Students can record progress and submit creative commentary with their final coursework.