12. Software for retrieving multimedia information, the software embodied on a computer-readable storage medium and, when executed by a computer, operable to: provide the multimedia information from independently accessible retrieval paths, the paths including: a textual search entry path configured to enable entry of one or more terms to search for in at least a portion of textual information stored on a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the textual search entry path is operable to access a stem index including a plurality of stems that are each associated with textual information and one or more related stems, the stems being concatenated in order to map each stem to other stems and to textual information that express a similar idea, and search the textual information using the stem index for textual information that closely resembles a search inquiry comprising one or more terms entered in the textual search entry path.
12. Software for retrieving multimedia information, the software embodied on a computer-readable storage medium and, when executed by a computer, operable to: provide the multimedia information from independently accessible retrieval paths, the paths including: a textual search entry path configured to enable entry of one or more terms to search for in at least a portion of textual information stored on a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the textual search entry path is operable to access a stem index including a plurality of stems that are each associated with textual information and one or more related stems, the stems being concatenated in order to map each stem to other stems and to textual information that express a similar idea, and search the textual information using the stem index for textual information that closely resembles a search inquiry comprising one or more terms entered in the textual search entry path. 15. The software of claim 12 , further operable to automatically check the spelling of terms in the search inquiry and providing alternate versions of misspelled.