I there is little behavior a DDD approach can be overkill, its your application its totally data-centric and with little logic probably the coupled solution can be a good decision. I don't know what technology are you planning to use, for a system like that i probably choose a framework like rails, grails or django an use ActiveRecord pattern.

The worst with this coupled systems is when you ends up unconsciously with a system like that, but if your take a conscious decisions based in your knowledge about the problem, things like DDD or ORM's are only tools in your toolbox and you pick up the right one for the project at hand.

If there is little behavior a DDD approach can be overkill, its your application its totally data-centric and with little logic probably the coupled solution can be a good decision. I don't know what technology are you planning to use, for a system like that i probably choose a framework like rails, grails or django an use ActiveRecord pattern.

The worst with this coupled systems is when you ends up unconsciously with a system like that, but if your take a conscious decisions based in your knowledge about the problem, things like DDD or ORM's are only tools in your toolbox and you pick up the right one for the project at hand.