Allen's Homepage for Basic .shn and Trading Information

Contents:

• General .shn Info
• Places to find .shn\FLAC traders
• A Few Places To Download .shn files
• "So, I have my .shn files. Now what?!?!"
• My list and some friends
• MKW Audio Compression Tool Guide
• More Helpful Tools
• Shorten Batch files for Win95/98/ME (Written by and thanks to Jeremy Clark)
• Shorten Batch files for WinXP
• FLAC Batch files for WinXP
• FLAC Plugin for Winamp2 (Right click, save target as, save to your winamp/plugins directory)
• Links Page (not complete)

General

Shn is a lossless compression format created by Softsound primarily used for concert recordings. If youre new to .shn and trading you should check out eTree. I cant stress how important it is to read over those pages so that you completely understand shn and md5s. The easiest tool for changing .shn files over to .wav files for audio cd burning is the MKW Audio Compression Tool.  To play .shn files on your computer using winamp you'll need the shnAmp plugin. To find a current list of some shns in circulation, an archive of md5 signatures for shows in circulation and a great network of trading folk try http://db.etree.org. They offer hosing of lists such as mine. Please note that all software that I linked to here is for Windows, however eTree does have software for mac and Linux users as well.

As compared to .mp3 files.shn may seem much too large to even consider downloading or archiving. But take into account that .shn files are completely lossless and are exact replicas of the original .wav file which is by comparison much larger. The benefit of this is that with concert recordings the quality is not like that of a studio disc. Even though many tapers use top of the line gear for the taping, recording, and transferring process, the quality is still not near that of a studio disc. Once you start taking that ever precious data out (like when you compress to .mp3 or .ogg) you damage the quality and the integrity of the recording. That data can never be put back in to the file, so it is permanantly damaged and will never sound as good as the original. Some people may say that they cant tell the difference between an .mp3 sourced show on audio disc and a .shn sourced show, and that may be the case; once. But after you take into consideration multiple generations of .mp3 where each time data is removed you can see how quickly that "not so bad" sounding disc just started to sound like utter garbage.

Recently a new lossless file compression format has emerged called FLAC. FLAC was designed by Josh Coalson and stands to take over shn as the leading medium for lossless compression. It has several benefits over shn, with a slightly smaller compression ratio, and the ability to keep signature files within the audio file. This means no md5 to keep up with. The only disadvantage that I see so far is that there is no database like there is for shn md5s so that we can ensure that the lineage of our FLAC files is true. In time im sure this issue will be addressed. Go here for software tools for using FLAC. Check out my FLAC page for an easy way to use FLAC from the command line and more links to very helpful FLAC pages and FAQs.

Places to find .shn/FLAC traders:

• db.etree.org - Hosts lists and message boards of people who are into trading shn files of live concert material of just about any band you can imagine. Also hosts a database of recorded md5 signatures so that you can verify that the files you have are from the original.

• eTree - eTree itself doesnt host .shns for download, just information and software. But they do have mailing lists that can help you out. The announce list is a list for siteops of FTP servers to list their contents and logins. If you dont have an FTP client you should download one. I prefer to use SmartFTP because its freeware, and its really easy to use. Using FTP you can participate in Etrades, where you can log into a server, upload your files while you simultaneously download their files. This is primarily for people with high-speed (either broadband or cable modem) internet access, but I've known more than a few 56k'ers out there who are dedicated enough to still download files over 1 gigabyte.

• Phishhook - Another database for personal trading lists. You can browse people's lists and contact them offering a trade or, Phishhook also has message boards for people to set up trades, and vines. Vines are a great way for people to get .shns. There are a few different methods of vining, but the basic principal is that one person will start it with a fileset, and mail it to the first person to sign up. Once that person receives it they will copy the discs and mail them on to the next in line. It can go on for hundreds of people for many months.

• BnP's - BnP stands for "blanks and postage." On any of the above mentioned sites people are willing to do BnP's for people. If you find yourself in a position to receive a BnP you should read over this beginners guide. It is also customary for a person who receives a BnP from someone to offer one back out to someone else in need, to keep spreading the tunes and to keep your karma happy. If everyone who receives a BnP can offer one back out to another there will be tunes a plenty goin around the world, which I believe to be a wonderful thing!

A Few Places To Download .shn files:

• FurthurNET - A new Peer-To-Peer filesharing client for only live shows in mp3 and shn format. I help out on FurthurNET and you can regularly find me chatting using the name guyforget. To get started I'd also suggest checking out our forums where you can also find me giving out help and spreading the knowledge of the network. We have a solid community building, and there are many people around willing to help out n00bs and beginners. We all like to have fun while we are at it, so come and join the party! Check out the bandlist to see who is currently on the network.

• The Ibiblio Archives - You can download here from an http or FTP protocol, but FTP obviously has its benefits over http.

• The eTree Archive Project - Again, you can download from an http or FTP protocol. Tons of shn files here.

• Roadsabreeze - mainly dedicated to Particle, but other bands are on their server as well. You must sign up for access to their server, and after you get your login you can use your FTP client to download the files. They also have FLAC files here, so you can play around with them as well and get the idea of what FLAC is all about.

• GDLive - GDLive is another with http and FTP access, lots of files here. Beware, some of the quality and lineage is questionable.

There are many other places to download live music from out there, just take the time to look around. I will be updating this page often with various articles, format news, and software links, so feel free to stop back by. This is basically a rough draft and I plan to extend it and cover other areas of our scene and also some tutorials for software use to help beginners.

"So, I have my .shn files. Now what?!?!"

Well, you need a few tools to help you out. To be able to burn your .shn files to audio cdrs you need to convert them to .wav files. The easiest tool to do this with is the MKW Audio Compression Tool. The second is the .shnAMP plugin for your Winamp player. This plugin will allow you to use Winamp to play your .shn files. Currently for Windows it is the only way to listen to .shn files without decoding to .wav. Windows users should now check out my guide to the MKW Audio Compression Tool for where to download from, installation tips, and usage pointers. Advanced or more computer literate users should check out my batch file pages about using shortn32.exe and md5sum.exe to handle .shn and .md5 files. I prefer these methods over the MKW tool, but for the beginner or non-computer savvy the MKW tool is the obvious choice of ease of use. Another benefit of .shn files is that you can burn them to cdr as data, and archive them. This allows you to pull out your data cdrs and convert them to wav on your hard drive any time you like if you scratch up your audio discs or give them away like i tend to do. Its no fun if you can't share, right?

"So, what about this .md5 file that I see here?"

The largest single benefit of .shn is the .md5 signature that should accompany each fileset. An .md5 file is a "fingerprint" of a .shn fileset that ensures you that the fileset you received is true to its lineage. Of course people can always create .shn filesets with new .md5 files, and for this we have http://db.etree.org pages, which archive .md5s so that you can go and check yours against the archived entries for that show. You can browse the page that lists shns in circulation and find the show you have, and match up the sources, then you can check your md5 file against the one they have arcived to make sure you have a guaranteed original fileset. If the show doesnt exist in the database then you just have to go on heart, and hope that you found an honest trader and not someone who either didnt know what they were doing (the purpose of this page is to cut down on them) or someone who just wanted to rip you off. In most of my trading experiences I have found that those who are out to rip you off will usually just say they're sending you discs and not come through, instead of taking the time to actually make .shn and corresponding .md5 files and send them to you. More about verifying .md5 files and matching them up to the shns in circulation page on my Guide to the MKW Audio Compression Tool.

"OK, So... what about this .skt file?"

.skt files are leftover from original versions of shorten. They make .shn files seekable; that is, that when youre playing them with Winamp you can fast forward and rewind through a track. Now we have shorten v3, which itself is seekable, but many older filesets will come with .skt files, and many old school shorten heads still use the old shorten w/ .skt files as well. They are not necessary when burning to audio cdr. If you download .shn files and dont have any .skt files don't sweat it, you dont need them at all really, but for non-seekable .shns they are a bonus if you'll be listening on your computer.

My shn/flac trading list

email me

If you're a newbie and find something on my list you'd like to add to your collection feel free to contact me for a BnP. Trades are always encouraged, but I can understand if you dont have anything to offer back. Just be sure to follow the rule of giving back, and try to offer one back out to someone else.

Some Friends and Related Sites