Hi Rachel, There are at least two good Macintosh solutions: either use FileMaker or MySQL. In either case, you probably don't want to store the binaries of the oral histories in the database. Although I can see circumstances where it might make sense, as a general rule life will be saner if you keep the actual sound files in your file system. So, your database needs only be a place to track the metadata--preservation info, who recorded what with whom where using what technology and where the binary(ies) are. Others may be able to suggest specific templates/table designs+interfaces that provide affordances for good audio file managements; else you would need to write your own (which it sounds like you're planning to do).
In the case of the oral history files, themselves, you want to store both the highest-resolution native format you can get at, plus the mp3 (or mov or whatever) you are using for access. Remember, of course, that tape is not an archival format, so it is critical to store the files digitally (if not born digitally on one of the new devices such as the Marantz PDM660--and if born digital, they want to be saved in PCM, not MP3 format so that mp3 can be treated as an auxiliary format, not the primary format), and to back them up/replicate them appropriately. Hope this helps, Ari On 1/31/07, Rachel Wormsbecher <rachelwormsbecher at hotmail.com> wrote: > > > > > Hi everyone. This is my first posting...I hope it works. > > Anyway, I need to build a database for a collection of oral histories that > are being stored on a Mac. All I know how to use is Microsoft Access. Can > anyone suggest a common database program for Macs that hold sound files > well? > >
