I should mention that when I began the above post, rumanci's was the only comment in the thread. I found jon's and kat's after posting it.

I see the "authoritative" / "definitive" question as a nonproblem. In the DT are in some cases many versions of a given song. Nobody needs or wants to be told which, if any, is authoritative or definitive. This would be an inclusive, not an exclusive resource---diverse variants would be all the better, to hammer home the point that there IS no definitive version of a traditional song.

jon, your comment about bandwidth/file size is a killer. But I wonder if, as with the role of textfile compression software in making DT practical, there may be some form of soundfile compression software in the works that, if not now, in the near future might overcome this.

kat, you do as I do...chase around to those CD sales sites to hear the samples. But what I suggest, see previous message, is, say, samples that are lengthier, more substantial---again, NOT the complete contents of a CD, and probably not the whole song (alas), but enough for a singer to go on with if the lyrics are known. It's a slipshod solution, but so much better than not having it at all.

Yes, I know, I've suggested a can of worms. But oh, what a resource if such a breakthrough is possible. It would, as they say, take us to the next level.