I recieved a couple of comments via PM that it wasn't really clear what the DB I am trying to develop would be like. I have sorted out most of the ideas of what I want to do now and have put the results of an "admin" view at http://www.jonbanjo.com/songs/.

I have decided to settle for the Roud Index which I'm told is the most comprehensive although not currently availible on the internet as my "standard" reference to an external index.

My main aim is a relitivley narrow focus - traditional but with completeness. By completeness, I mean the lyrics and hopefully tunes from documented sources and accurately transcribed, some meaningful information about each song and means of making it reasonably easy to find related songs which are in the database. Perhaps, most importantly of all, I am aiming to do go about it in such a way that corrections and additions can be made on line and in such a way that should things evolve, it has the capabilites of being a team effort rather than the more common solo approach.

The only area I am still undecided on is the tunes. Im a bit torn between using MIDI and ABC and am also toying with the idea of trying to look for the possibility of conversion programs, perhaps to allow MIDI and GIF from ABC - I have some researching to do...

Jon