For all things musical, I use Bento, an affordable database program
for Apple computers, which is somewhat a stripped-down version of
FileMaker. It doesn't have the complexity or functionality of a full
blown relational database, but for inventories, it is perfect, having
limited relational capabilities.
I have sheet music, rolls, organette cobs, reference books, etc., all
in the database. It has the look and feel of iTunes, and is easily
configured and customized. I had the database defined within an hour
of installing it (and I'm no computer whiz). With the functionality
to have a mix of data fields (text, photos, hyperlinks, etc.), just
about everything you'd want to know about a roll could be there. And,
if you happen to have a iTunes recording of the song, it's a breeze to
link it from the database. I've found it extremely stable.
I had a spreadsheet application with my original source data, and
it was getting very slow, and it was very vulnerable to accidental
erasure. Fortunately, Bento was able to import my data from the
spreadsheet application. I also use it to log the music/rolls/etc.
that I DON'T have (but want), so I have a single place to define my
wish list. As a database, it has no real limitations regarding the
number of records, so if one has a really big collection, it could
easily handle it.
Karl Van Scyoc
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