From: tom@drutx.ATT.COM (MaddenTC)
Newsgroups: rec.models.railroad
Subject: Re: Periodical Database?
Summary: Good ones aren't free!
Date: 28 Sep 92 22:25:53 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Denver

In article <1992Sep28.110825.22139@cbnews.cb.att.com>, gwe@cbnews.cb.att.com (george.w.erhart) writes:
> In article <1992Sep25.222717.17379@noose.ecn.purdue.edu> kollerd@pasture.ecn.purdue.edu (David R Koller) writes:
> >   Are there any public-domain databases of model railroad literature
> >available?  I've seen a few computerized databases for MR, RMC, etc.
> >advertised in the press, but they always cost a bit too much.  Maybe
>                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> What is your definition of "cost a bit too much"? I purchased an index
> and software from Data Train at this years NMRA National Convention for
> $49.99. This included a complete index of MR, RMC, MainLine Modeler,
> Model Railroading, and RailModel Journal. The total number of years in
> the index is something like 120. The great part is that the index is
> in DBase III format and I have other programs that can access this data.
> Also, DT will upgrade the index for $10 if you send in the original
> floppies. 
> 
> If you considered the time to scan and correct an OCR of a typical
> magazine index ... this is a deal.
> -- 
> George Erhart
> AT&T Bell Laboratories
> Columbus, Ohio
> att!archie!gwe or gwe@archie.att.com


Let me second the endorsement of the Data Trains database. For
the money, it's a real steal. The $49.99 price George Erhart
paid may have been a convention special - the regular price is
ten bucks more or so. I think $49.99's what I paid last year at
the Denver NMRA national convention, and my version only covers
MR, RMC and MLM. MODEL RAILROADING and RMJ must have been added
since then, for what looks like the same price. I think the
upgrade price is $15, not $10 - you send in the old master disk
and the money and get the latest version in return. (I'd better
do that!)

Background info on why I consider this such a good value: in
1985 I decided to index all my magazines on Lotus 1-2-3. (No
flames, please - for better or for worse I'm not a dBase user,
and I needed to learn how to do macro programming and database
management on Lotus for a project at work.) Invested about 100
hours developing menu-driven data entry and automated extraction
programs, plus too many hours doing actual data entry, hours
that would have otherwise been "wasted" on modeling. I got
through 43 years of MR (1948-1990), eleven of MLM (1980-1990)
and 16 of RMC (1968-1983) before finding and buying the Data
Trains database.  Wound up with over six megabytes of
uncompressed data and an unabashed admiration for folks who put
together really big databases. It took me 20 minutes or so to go
through and enter one issue of one magazine. (Tables of contents
are often incomplete and inaccurate, and many articles require
multiple entries. Also, I wanted to include product reviews. No,
I don't intend to market it.) To find a similar database
available for less than $50 really boggled my mind, and brought
my data entry career to a sudden,and welcome, halt!

A caveat: the quality AND AVAILABILITY of any product,
especially a hobby product, depend on the talent, effort and
desire of the manufacturer (or in this case, author). Our hobby
is too broad for any one individual to be an expert on all
aspects of it, so don't expect anything as all-encompassing as a
database to be perfect. But each of us probably IS an expert on
some aspect of the hobby, so view the acquisition of a database
as a partnership. Let the author know of any typos or errors you
find, so they can be corrected in the master database. That way
you show the author you care about his work, and the quality
improves for everyone.

Tom C. Madden		I've no connection with any other database
			author. But I do have lots of empathy.

____________________________________________________________________ 
Thomas C. Madden  tom@drutx.att.com  AT&T Bell Laboratories  Denver                                                  
These are my opinions only!!