The database in AudioMan is a bit of a mixed blessing. It allows quick access and searching of metadata but it can also go out of sync with the file system. This is because AudioMan operates one level above the file system, not within it.

Another database stumbling block was introduced by the support for removable media: database conversion between software upgrades. When a user gets the new version of AudioMan, the database needs to be converted from the old version if the schema has changed. Now that all of the removable media data is stored only in the database (and not in files as well) the database contents are increasingly important and must be preserved between upgrades.

Database schemas morph as features are added, removed and tweaked so a strategy is necessary to manage this change. A flexible database schema helps, but it's not always enough to see changes into the future.

Something Roy and I were talking about using XML as a middle man. On a database conversion, the contents of the database could be exported to XML from the old schema and then imported from XML to the new schema. Does XML offer more flexibility than going from old database to new database? That's an interesting question because the XML format itself might have to change too!

Roy wants me to export the collection as XML anyway so he can do some neat transforms on the data, like making a nice HTML list. So I'll have this XML file handy anyway.

By the way, I've thought of a better phrase than removable media. How about backup disc? In the top menu, the menu item would be Add backup disc....