The HOTBED project has supplied the BA Scottish Music Course at the RSAMD with a unique and custom-built resource, designed to cater for specific pedagogic needs, focussed on the transmission of oral/aural rather than written knowledge. This new, web-based access to materials that were otherwise difficult or impossible to reach has alerted the staff and students across the entire institution to the possibilities afforded by new technologies in practice-based and multimedia-focussed areas.

The HOTBED system is a web-based, database driven system for delivering multimedia resources (audio and video) to musicians. It has the following features:

• A searchable database of over 1100 items with associated metadata
• A powerful search engine that provides targeted and free searching as well as a browse facility and a synonym search
• Delivery of text transcriptions and images as secondary materials
• User profiling tools to allow users to collect resources together and track their work
• Collaboration systems to allow users to share resources and readily communicate with one another
• Multimedia Manipulation Tools to provide the facility to markup a resource in realtime and loop user-defined sections of the resource
• Dual broad and narrow band delivery

The multimedia manipulation tools (MMTs) in HOTBED that allow marking and looping of sound items have sparked a great deal of enthusiasm amongst musicians as they provide precise playback control. In combination with the organisational, sharing and user profiling tools in HOTBED, the MMTs form part of a package that addresses both existing difficulties with materials (particularly access and format) and provides new tools that enhance the learning experience.

HOTBED has sparked interest beyond music and even outwith the arts. Presentations and demonstrations to academics from across the board have generated a great deal of discussion, resulting in plans to provide a similar user-centred, practice-based resource to the wider HE/FE community.

Within the RSAMD, evaluation has indicated that students' learning experience can be enhanced using networked sound resources. Valuable lessons have been learned from the use of HOTBED by staff and students including:

• the efficacy of video materials for "aural" learning
• the demand for multimedia manipulation tools in practice-based learning
• the flexibility offered by user profiling tools and the ability to share resources.