Shorten (extension .shn) is an audio compression scheme written by Tony Robinson of SoftSound that can compact wav files (music CDs) without subtracting out any frequencies. It's "lossless"- everything in the original wav is there, so that full quality is maintained. For many traders of live music, Shorten files (shns) therefore have an undisputed advantage over "lossy" mp3-format files. A shn file made from a wav is quite a bit larger than the corresponding mp3, with a size perhaps ~50-70% of the orginal wav.
There is allready a huge community sharing "bootlegs" in the .shn format over the internet, but with permission of the artists, so called trade-friendly artists !
To get you started, you need some additional software:
Shnamp a plugin for winamp, so you can listen to your files on your PC.
mkwACT To convert .shn files into .wav files, if you want to creste "Normal" CDs. It's also possible to use mkwACT to create .shn files from wave files.
Linux and MAC user will find links to software they need in the SHN FAQ. But the SHN FAQ is also iteresting for all the WIN users, if they want to know more about .shn files and the shn-trading-community.
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