Handling Databases

Could some kind soul talk me through the pratical ways to handle a database of games?  What programs/platforms do you recommend? 

If I want to buy a set of such-and-such million games, am I downloading them to a particular computer?  Is there any way to be able to consult the database from different computers, or even from a phone?

I'm tempted by one of these:

https://www.openingmaster.com/index.php/chess-databases

Any recommendations about them?  Also, what's with pricing it as "per-year"?  Do you have to pay again every year for access to the same set of games, or once you download it, do you get to keep it?

Download Scid vs PC and download pgn files from theweekinchess.com

each week there are about 2000 games from top tournaments also for older games pgn mentor download site is good place organized by openings/players and tournaments updated almost ever major tournament pgn mentor download

Sounds useful.  Backing up a step, why use Scid vs PC?  Any tips on a system that would allow me to consult my database while not at my home computer (e.g., from my phone)?

I don’t know anything that can handle a million-game database on iOS. There are some apps that can play through PGN files with up to ~10000 games (I’m using Chess Studio, for example), though they have very limited features (most cannot even load variations properly) and crashes from time to time. They’ll certainly crash if you ever try importing a huge database.

Chess apps on your phone are designed for causal play instead of serious study. However you can pick a few games you’re interested in, pack them into a .pgn file, load it in your phone app and play through them when you have time. PC is very likely the only choice if access to huge databases is necessary.

Okay, makes sense.  Are there practical ways to store your database online so that you can access it from multiple computers?  Or some other workaround?

Sorry for more basic questions, but how do you load a database to scid vs pc?

If what I have is in PGN format, will it even work in scid?  Is there a way to convert it to the formats they use?

Create a Scid database with File New and use Tools / Import pgn file 

and yes pgn files also load in SCID however are better handled in SCID format 

I'm not sure.  You might be able to store the file in the cloud depending on how much storage space that  you have available.  Or you can put the same database program on multiple pcs and store the base on a flash drive.