Is Finale NotePad Mandatory?

[Arc of the Half-Moon]

As a disclaimer, I'd just like to point out that if I end up sounding whiny or like a jerk at any point, it's because my temples are currently ON FIRE from a massive stress headache.
EDIT: I also just realized that I might have posted this in the wrong place, although I'm not entirely sure, since this is my first post. If that turns out to be the case then let's just blame that on the stress headache, too.

I am having the absolute worst time with Finale NotePad, the kind of experience that leaves you so frustrated that you can't tell whether you want to cry, vomit, smash something, or all of the above. I can't create tempo notation; I can't find the time signature tool; I can't even right click on anything (unless the phrase "context click" means something else entirely, and I HATE the video tutorials for using stupid phrases like that). Plus, the more I look at tutorials, the more I find there are things that I should have and should be able to do, but can't and don't for some incredibly stupid reason, and that only serves to frustrate me even more.

MuseScore is so much easier for me to use it's ridiculous, but unfortunately it doesn't let me save what I have as a .mus file.

Please. There's got to be a way around this. I hate this program so much, and if I have to go on using it as it is now then my psyche will collapse a la "Pink Floyd - The Wall" (the movie, to be more specific). If there isn't an alternative, then I desperately, desperately need a way to make this thing better, because right now it is such a waste of time for me to even try using it. If I possibly downloaded an inferior or unstable version, okay, but I got it from the link on the FAQ page. If it doesn't work well with Windows 8.1, I guess I could understand, considering that it apparently came out in 2012. But if it turns out that I have to pay to get the features that I need in order to make what I want, I am never touching this program again. If that turns out to be the case, then I sincerely hope there's an alternative program I can use for this site, because otherwise I'll have no other choice but to withhold everything that I wanted to contribute for pretty much the rest of time, and I really want to submit my arrangement of "Theme of Tara" from Metal Gear.

Many, many, MANY, thanks in advance for any suggestions of helpful intent.

[Dudeman]

In a single post, I think Arc has summed up the total experience of literally every single member of the forums.

Congratulations, you have successfully deduced why Finale NotePad exists! It's made to frustrate the user so that they inevitably end up buying the full version of Finale. My suggestion? Keep it.

No, seriously. Keep it. And use MuseScore. There is a significant crowd of MuseScore users here with the same problem. My best way around the problem is completing the arrangement in MuseScore, saving a copy as a .xml file, and then opening that file in NotePad. It should transfer everything, and you should only need to mess with the spacing and text formatting for the .mus file.

Don't sweat it about NotePad! mus files are required, but NotePad certainly isn't.

[Arc of the Half-Moon]

Thank you so much man. I was actually thinking about doing exactly what you just explained before, but I was really worried about the .mus file ending up like crap and not getting approved, so I decided to test my patience further, and just look where that got me. I'm glad to hear that the solution is really so plain. It's a load off my mind, definitely.

[JesterMusician]

Some things in the full version of Finale are just as frustrating as Notepad, while MuseScore does it easier.