>>I don't see why it should be 5 characters when 4 is enough. :)
>I get your point but I will still use 5. I just like the way this colon (:) looks in my field. Kind of like a double smile :)
>

I'd argue for keeping the seconds: Murphy says the sooner you ditch them, the sooner you will need them.
Calculating differences is another point to consider: if you keep your fields datetime this reduces risk of own errors.
If strapped for space (laaarge table with a couple of dozen such fields) I'd save seconds() in an integer field (recalc still easy), if really strapped for space (already nearing 2GB) I'd map minute count to a 2 byte char field.

my 0.02 EUR

thomas