Just like your mom's recipes could be organized into a database, you could create one for your 900 CDs. You could arrange them numerically, alphabetically or alphanumerically (a combination). Each completed entry for a CD (or recipe, or whatever) is called a record. Let's look at a record from a CD collection.
Title:
James Taylor LiveNumber: 287-JT Performer: James Taylor Songs: Sweet Baby James, Traffic Jam, Handy Man, Your Smiling Face, Secret O'Life, Shed a Little Light, Everybody has the Blues, Steamroller Blues, Mexico, Millworker, Country Radio, Fire and Rain, Shower the People, How Sweet it is, New Hymn Classification: Pop
The chicken dinner was a big success, and your girlfriend tells you she wants to hear some music (which her mother mustalso be able to tolerate). You ask her what she wants to hear, and she tells you she wants to hear a song about two lovers and Pina Coladas. All you need to do is type in the few words you know (lovers and pina coladas) and do a song search. If you have a CD with the song, your search will be successful, and the record with all the necessary information (including the title of the CD, performer, number, etc.) will be displayed on your computer screen.
No luck. Your search came up with 0 results. There is no match for your entry. You ask her for a second choice, and her mom pipes up with: "I just love James Taylor." You start a second search, and this time you have success. In addition to the record we already looked at, you have four other CD's by James Taylor. You get the idea.
