Database vs Spreadsheet

Databases are similar to spreadsheets, except that they are intended to address limitations of spreadsheets with respect to relationships between one piece of information and another.

Spreadsheet advantages

Spreadsheets are simple to set up, and simple to use. For relatively simple tasks, spreadsheets make it very easy to put all important information in view at one time.

If you're using a spreadsheet to keep a list of names and corresponding addresses, you may or may not find that a database would be more suitable. Entering one address per person is easy on a spreadsheet - the records will all be in plain view. A database may seem excessively complicated.

Modern spreadsheet software also makes it relatively simple to add columns, rename columns, or create rules that ensure consistent data (such as "this column may contain numbers only"). Using a database, it may be difficult to accomplish the same tasks.

Multiple Tables

In some instances, individuals may have more than one address. It is possible to add extra columns to accommodate the extra addresses. But a database-style approach would create a table of addresses, and link each address to a person, allowing more than one address to belong to one person.

Database Advantages

The database approach starts to show its advantages more clearly when there are several tables. For example, each individual might belong to up to ten different organizations. Individuals might also each have several addresses and several e-mail addresses. They might, furthermore, have records showing their registrations for school classes, donations to an organization, or event registrations. In a spreadsheet, it would be confusing to create new columns for all of these connections (relationships) between different pieces of information.

Keeping all of this information digitally is difficult without a program designed around the concepts of "one to many relationships" or "many to many relationships". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-to-many_(data_model)