Database Limits and Possibilities [on hold]

I quite obviously have a question about databases.

To give you the pertinent information: I am a creative person, college student, wannabe entrepreneur and big dreamer. I take inspiration and lessons anywhere and anytime. This has led to a bunch of information in a variety of formats. It might be word documents, handwritten papers and notes, recordings in .mp3 or .wav formats, videos, photos, articles, etc. You get the point.

I find the disorganization not only disconcerting and overwhelming but completely lacking in functionality. It's hard to keep track of everything for each project and to avoid redundancies. I want to sit down and finally compile each of these pertinent pieces of information into categories that I can apply "tags" to based on the multiple subjects it applies to, date, or any other parameters, so that when I want to access the information I can pull it up quickly and easily. For many of these things, they are almost like inspiration boards with all kinds of information, photos, etc. And some of these pieces of information have several purposes and apply to several projects... which is why I want to be able to apply tags to them.

Someone suggested to me once to get versed in databases and database software. Now, I am personally not very computer literate, but I am 100% willing to learn it if it proves to be what I want. Whenever I went to look into this, though, each database seems ideal for quantitative data, and not so much qualitative data. Also, it always seems to be something you enter in the form of letters of the alphabet or numerics like a spreadsheet and that appeared to me at first glance to be the extent of it.

What I want to be able to do is "file" pieces of information under several categories. For example, one of the projects that I'd like to undertake is cataloging some magazines that I have. I'd like to have the entire magazine in order of start to finish under its category based on month and year. I also would like to be able to access individual articles based on what I need it for. Some articles may have several purposes (like I might be using it for a story, for an invention, and for a school assignment).

Other projects of mine as I mentioned before are more similar to an inspiration board, to try to capture the feeling or purpose that I want... I might have notes that are typed up on a word.doc and others that are handwritten, I might have MP3 recordings either of myself or from lectures, photos, etc. I want to be able to group all those different files with all their different file extensions into one "folder" so that it is all there at a glance. I can visually see and use all of them.

I'm also only one person and trying to keep track of the amount of time some of these projects have taken from start to finish or when certain to-dos are due is really overwhelming. So in addition to the note and filing aspect I mentioned earlier, there is also the need to keep track of start dates, due dates, to-dos regarding each product, etc.

I tried OneNote and I liked the ability to mix different files, etc. But it wasn't very reliable when it came to saving my work (several times, stuff I had worked on just disappeared resulting in a lot of frustration), so I find that particular software not what I am wanting.

That is why I am here to ask about databases. Is any of what I want to do possible with a database software? Or is there another program or process entirely that I need to consider? Ordinarily, I'd do a little research on a search engine myself, but I have been having trouble putting into succinct words what I am envisioning. Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. :)