Ron, re: OpenOffice DB vs. Access. I suppose it depends if you're just trying to create one database for yourself. If so, you might want to look at OpenOffice. But if you plan to develop databases for others, or if you care about support and assistance, then I would strongly recommend Access. It is the standard in smaller databases, and has almost all of the support, books, forums, etc. The chances that it will still be supported in 10 years is also much higher, I would guess. I once went with a database other than Access (about 10 years ago) and have since had to move that to Access due to lack of ongoing support. If you're going to learn to develop databases, you might as well learn Access.