My advice is to in Finale 2004 first turn off the automatic update for word extensions in the Options menu >> Program Options >> View (set it to manual) and then start working in Finale 2004. Finale 2004 is actually an extremely large jump over Finale 2002. As far as Finale 2005 goes, I believe that whenever a version of Finale can save you enough time with its new features to make up for the amount of money you spend on the upgrade, it's worth the cost. So the question comes down to how you use Finale.

But certainly, if you have Finale 2004, you should be able to use it. I can't stand working in 2002 now that I'm used to the benefits of 2004 and 2005. It's just too slow.

Joel,

Did Finale 2005 adjust the triplets automatically when you opened the older file? I opened an older file today that had many triplets in it and they were not positioned correctly.  

I think 2005 is worth it. They have implemented several of the suggestions I sent it.

They made the repeats super easy to use! Very intuitive now.

They added the zoom in/out shortcut that is similar to Photoshop. Unfortunately, it won't zoom out when the text tool is selected. But, this is an easy fix. I sent it in already.

Page up/down works in all dialogue boxes. It used to be a drag (no pun intended) to have to scroll down to the bottom of the expression tool whenever I needed my latest addition to the list. Now I can press "end" and I am at the bottom instantly. Simple, but it saves time.

Still waiting for:

Scrolling spacebar playback

Should be able to edit everything with the selection tool. Move measures up and down, adjust note spacing, etc....

Have "Control-copy" like most windows programs. For example...you should be able to hold the control key (when using the selection tool) and click on any item then drag to make a copy of that item. Huge time saver!!!!

Make rit. and accels much more intuitive. I know you can use a 3rd party plugin but Finale should have this built into the program and it should be very easy to use. 

A measure counter when using the mass mover tool. Finale should tell you how many measure you have selected. Every try to keep track of 32 or 64 bars of rest? It's not fun. Currently the only way to do it is to use the select region function and use a little math. This info could be displayed in the status bar at the bottom left.

Allow the chord dialogue box to remain open when inputting chords using the "type into score" method. I have a 157 chord suffixes and a bad memory so this would help me out to always have them displayed on screen.

Here's one thing I still don't get about the edit learned chord function. Why does the chord you teach Finale have to be key specific? If I tell Finale that I want the notes C E G A to be a C6 chord Finale should transpose this voicing to all keys. If I am in Db and I play this chord I still want it to display C6. Not Amin7/C. There should be an option to have Finale learn a new chord in all keys.

I have not used 2005 extensively yet but so far I am liking what I see!!!!