Dick:

Most people here are talking about the stand-alone, downloadable version of the DT. That is, I think, of minuscule importance as compared to getting the online version into a condition where individual entries can be updated on a day-to-day basis as opposed to en bloc (and with few errors corrected but plenty of new ones added) every two or three years.

Mick and Jon have already made recommendations on that score, and I am convinced that that is the way to go. Many people have offered practical help over the years, but this has rarely been taken up. There are corrections to fundamental mistakes in the DT that have been sitting in the Forum for five years and more but have still not been incorporated into the database.

I do understand that it's difficult to abandon a setup that works (or used to work) and surrender a degree of control, but that is the only way to ensure that the DT does not become obsolete or, worse, that it becomes the single biggest source of misinformation about traditional music available in the entire world. It is rapidly heading that way.

The fact that you never intended the DT to be anything more than an online songbook is beside the point. It has grown beyond your intent, and whether you like it or not it is assumed to be, and is used as, an authoritative resource.

It is vital that corrections posted in the Forum (which, although it also contains enormous quantities of misinformation, is still one of the best resources on the web for accurate background on folksong; the problem being that you have to know quite a bit already to be able to tell who is talking sense and who rubbish) be added to the DT.

This can't realistically be done by two people. You need a viable database format which can be edited -and updated- piecemeal via an online interface. You need a team of people you trust to do that. You need to forget about adding new material until the material you already have is accurate, properly proofread and complete (with proper sources and attributions).

Until you have all that, there is no point at all in worrying about how to put together a cd version with a novelty "bouncing ball" feature.