Tim,
You should definitely consider another way to implement your model. You seem to have a clear idea of the structure of your data (“I collect 5 different titles, descriptions, etc for 16 different items”), so it’s in fact an array of 16 dictionaries with 5 keys.
I can’t imagine the problems you’ll get if you change one key into your applescript record, and then re-bind it in IB. 
Regards,