I'm sure there are a good few people of whom it's true to say, at le4ast sometimes, they "hear a song,then look it up on mudcat and get one version,or they buy a cd and if its got a word sheet,they learn the songs that way."

But I'm also sure that this is true of only a tiny minotioty of people in general. And I'm also pretty sure that for most of us it's not true of most of the songs we know, and could sing in the back of the bus.

So far as the tunes go, it's always oral transmission for me, because I can't read music.