Joe, you're doing a great job. I bet that Catspaw understands only too well, but is sensitive to being seen as usurping your leadership in all things Mudcat. BTW I can't offer you an airfare but would gladly offer you accomodation in sunny Brisbane anytime you please - you might have to check out our unzipping laws first.

Downloading the DT does appear formidable, but following on from your comments I believe that there are a few simple things to make life easier.

(1) Make the TUNES.ZIP file available for download as a single item. It's about 1.53Megs at the moment, and at the slow rate we're generating new tunes it probably won't grow too much in the near future.

(2) I suspect that some Mudcatters don't have the software to unzip, or are put off because of this. There are probably a few solutions to overcome this, including a self extracting file.

(3) If TUNES.___ becomes available as a separate download then other simple options evolve:

(a) The simple DOS tune player (qabcplay???) should be available as a simple download, and can be used by the humblest of PC's, and no need for a sound card.

(b) Other cheap programs such as ABCMUS can be used (by more people more easily) to import the DT tunes and then play and modify them in many ways.

BTW I applaud the availability of the DT Player, and thanks to Dick for providing it through Music Ease. The SongWright 'format' of housing tune and lyrics together is clearly important. I hope that we don't have to wait too many more years before the MIDI (or whatever) standard is produced to ensure that this integration can move on.

Regards
John