Finding songs in a music libary that are not in any playlist

[davidbstanley]

Access 2003 on XP

I have a music library with several thousand entries. The database contains all the song information and each song is identified by a unique (cut) number. I have 10-20 playlist database files, which are lists of the cut numbers. All of these files are dBASE IV format, but they import OK into Access. What I want to find out, is what songs (cut numbers) in the main database are not in any playlist database.

How should I do this? My knowledge of Access is fairly basic.

 

[DCrake]

Can you combine all your playlist tables into one large table?

What is the difference between the main database and the playlist database?

Why have seperate tables for different playlists?

 

[davidbstanley]

I can merge the playlist databases into one in Access. The playlist database files are just lists of the cut numbers with some very basic information about how one track transitions to the next. The main database file has all the information like artist, title, year etc. I have to have the separate playlist files as they are used by another music playout application.

 

[DCrake]

One method would be to use a union query to stack all your playlists into one large file, then use this query to find all unmatched records in the main database using the Find Unmatched records wizard. This is based on the assumption the the unique number appears in both tables.

 

[davidbstanley]

Thank you, the Find Unmatched records wizard does exactly what I need!

 

[DCrake]

Glad you have resolved your issue.