here is what u want, then below is the whole page from here http//userpages.umbc.edu/~hamilton/shnfaq.html
Mac</li>
<ul>
<li>
A Shorten plugin has been available for
MacAmp
Lite X.
Update 1/2003- Company is apparently out of business
now. Please send alternate links for this software if available. That plugin
is no longer separately linked. Reportedly the beta version (r10c2) on
the ghost page has Shorten and FLAC plugins already built in.</li>
</ul>
A Small SHN and MD5 FAQhref="http//research.umbc.edu/~hamilton/shnlinks.html">SHN
Resources |
Lossless Sources
Database |
Live Music Archive</center>
The FAQ below gives a quick overview pitched toward new folks, whether
ftp downloaders or regular mail traders. For another simple explanation,
see Allen's new
Basic .shnurl==http://=http:///url
and Trading Information. There are additional FAQs at
etree.org
(
beginner and
detailed
level also at their
older site, especially
oriented toward downloaders),
U2SHN.com,
benharpershn,
and
Phishhook.com.
<p>
The Japan Times has recently
published a well-written
article
with
sidebar.
<h4>
What are SHNs?</h4>
Shorten (extension .shnurl==http://=http:///url) is an audio compression scheme written by
Tony
Robinson of
SoftSound that can
compact wav files 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.
<p>Although many people just download shns, keep in mind that these files
can also be traded through the mail on disc very easily. The overview below
focuses on working with shn files that are already created by others. Once
you are familiar with that side of things, it will become obvious how to
create
shns sets on your own.
<p>Ethical note For historical reasons, much of the music available in
Shorten format is of
trade-friendly
bands. To make it easier for all of us to continue to enjoy this hobby,
please respect the artists. Please, no bootlegging (selling of trade-allowed
music, stealing of commercial releases) through shns. Thanks!
<h4>
Where can you get SHNs?</h4>
The accompanying
SHN
Resources page lists places to download, trade, distribute or discuss
shn-format music of
trade-friendly
artists. Notably, the
Internet Archive
has a new and growing
Live Music
Archive of shns.
<p>Information about some specific shns circulating for a number of
trade-friendly
artists is listed in the
"Lossless
Sources in Circulation" Database (aka the "shn db"). There are no actual
shns in that database, just information about them, although the Database
now features crossreferences to the Archive's music.
<p>
What does a "SHN set" look like?
<p>If you are collecting shns of live music, you will receive various data
files together in a group. Files you may see
<p>
.shnurl==http://=http:///url Binary files with compressed music data. Since shn
files are meant to be decompressed to .wavurl==http://=http:///url for burning onto audio CDs for
listening, they will be organized by CD layout. Typical shns are
named by band abbreviation, show date, disc and track, such as ph2000-04-20d1t01.shn.
<br>
.txturl==http://=http:///url A plain text file with information about the shns-
CD tracklist, recording details, credits, flaw notes, etc. They're typically
named by band abbrev plus show date, such as ph2000-04-20.txt.
<br>
.md5url==http://=http:///url Plain text files with checksum information for
the shns. The checksum strings inside are like 32-character ID numbers
for each shn, used to check the integrity of the shns and to "fingerprint"
them. People create md5s at the same time they create the shns. The files
are typically named by band abbrev, show date, and often disc, such as
ph2000-04-20d1.md5. Within the md5 file there should be a separate line
for each shn. See below for their important use.
<br>
.skturl==http://=http:///url Optional files used in support of playing shns
"on the fly" on a computer. See
below.
<p>When you download a shn set, you will at least want all .shn,url==http://=http:///url .md5url==http://=http:///url and
.txturl==http://=http:///url files that you see in the directory you are after.
<h4>
What do you do with SHNs once you get them?</h4>
1) Make sure you have all the files you need. Check the txt file against
the shns you have. Are all the tracks there?
<p>
2)
Required Use the handy md5 files to verify
the integrity of your shns.
Software to "check md5s"
may be bundled with the Shorten program or may be available separately
(as Md5sum). Why check md5s? Since shns are really big, they can get corrupted
more easily than smaller files during data transfer or even during data
CD burning. A shn file copied without glitches should always be identical
to its parent shn, and have the same checksum "fingerprint". If the shn
was changed through corruption, it will no longer match its original fingerprint
and the check will fail. If the md5 check fails for a shn, redownload that
shn (or even try "resume" in your ftp program- you may have a simple truncation),
or recopy the shn from your data disc and try again. If it fails repeatedly,
contact your host operator or trading partner- his own copy may be defective.
If there are no md5s to check, you take your chances with
errors.
<p>If the md5s you received just don't seem to work right, read
these
tips on md5 file format.
<p>3) Optional
Play the shns directly on your computer.
They'll only sound as good as your computer speakers though, and may sound
no better than mp3s that way.
<p>4)
Recommended Decompress the shns to wavs,
then burn audio CDs for best listening quality. Don't delete the shns,
md5s or txt if you plan to go to the next step
<p>5)
Recommended Archive the shn set. It's a great idea to save
the shn set itself by burning all of the files (.shn, .md5,url==http://=http:///url .txturl==http://=http:///url) to data-format
discs for storage and trading as data. A typical 3-disc audio show will
fit on 2 shn data discs. Many people would rather
trade
music as original shn sets than as audio CDs. But if you do trade audio,
archiving shns also makes it easy to produce multiple, identical audio
copies painlessly without any troublesome, error-prone audio extraction.
Note "reshn" from audio discs is strongly discouraged and will draw criticism
for various reasons; save the original shn set only.
<p>For extra carefulness, run an md5 check on the archived shns after the
burn, to make sure they all burned OK.
<h4>
What SHN and MD5 software is available?</h4>
To check md5s and to decompress shns into wavs, you need appropriate software.
Some choices are listed below along with a few other support tools. Etree.org
also has a
new
software page with advice pointers (plus an
older
version). If you use any of the noncommercial, modified versions of
Shorten listed below, please read Tony Robinson's original
license
agreement.
<ul>
<li>
Windows 95,98</li>
<ul>
<li>
MKW Audio Compression Tool,
by Michael K. Weise. The md5 checking and creating function is included
in the software. Michael's
help
file (no longer updated) is online. Etree also has a great
help
page for this program (now covering up to Win XP), with screen shots.
You will need to install "runtime libraries" before installing the MKW
program, but you will see links for both.</li>
<li>
Batch file methods to set up DOS versions of the separate Shorten and Md5sum
programs in Windows95,98 are described by
etree
and by
Jeremy Clark (plus
older
mirror). This is more old-fashioned but quite effective.</li>
<li>
SHN2k
by Peter W. King is designed to simplify using the DOS versions of the
Shorten and Md5sum programs in Win2k, but will also work in other versions
of Windows.</li>
<li>
SoftSound provides a registered
version of Shorten for Windows. This program will also play shns directly.
It does not include md5 checking or creation capability, however. You'd
have to set an md5 program such as Md5summer up separately to check the
shn files.</li>
<li>
Standalone md5 checking tools. These tools are very handy if you just need
to create md5s for preexisting files (such as for wavs when
seeding
a show). These will all work in later Windows versions too.</li>
<ul>
<li>
Md5summer by Luke Pascoe (free
and simple)</li>
<li>
fsum by SlavaSoft (free)</li>
<li>
Advanced CheckSum by Irnis (shareware)</li>
</ul>
<li>
shntool, a handy utility
to check length, detect and fix sector boundary errors, etc. Extra guidelines
and software (including a setup utility) are available at
dankeeds.
An alternative
user-friendly
help page was created by Chris Green. Recommended as an extra support
program, once you're already comfortable with shns. Latest version is 1.2.0.</li>
<li>
Monkey's Audio by Matthew T.
Ashland is primarily designed for a different compression scheme but reportedly
has support for Shorten files. It does not include md5 checking or creation
capability, however. You'd have to set an md5 program such as Md5summer
up separately to check the shn files.</li>
<li>
Exact Audio Copy, the premier
CD extraction program, will create shns on the fly from the extracted audio
files-
more info.
We have no info on invoking it for decompression. Also, it does not include
md5 checking or creation capability- you'd have to set an md5 program such
as Md5summer up separately to check the shn files.</li>
</ul>
<li>
Windows NT</li>
<ul>
<li>
As for Win 95,98 above, with this
advice
about running DOS batch files, if used.</li>
<li>
Mike Heilmann has witten a
Perl
script for decompression of shns on NT systems.</li>
</ul>
<li>
Windows ME</li>
<ul>
<li>
MKW, SHN2k also work.</li>
<li>
We have no information on the other methods listed above.</li>
</ul>
<li>
Windows 2000</li>
<ul>
<li>
SHN2k
by Peter W. King is designed to simplify using the DOS versions of the
Shorten and Md5sum programs, especially in Win2k.</li>
<li>
MKW (see above) reportedly works well. Reportedly the runtime libraries
don't need to be installed first.</li>
<li>
We have no information on the other methods listed above.</li>
</ul>
<li>
Windows XP</li>
<ul>
<li>
MKW (see above) will work if run in
compatibility
mode. Reportedly the runtime libraries don't need to be installed first.
There are conflicting reports on whether the seek table function will cause
problems while
creating shns. Try right-clicking instead of drag-and-drop
to encode wav to shn. If you are still having problems compressing wav>
shn even with right-click under compatibility mode, use the "do not generate
seek table" option.</li>
<li>
SHN2k also works.</li>
<li>
Update See
Allen's
FAQ for advice on setting up batch methods if you are having particular
trouble with MKW.</li>
<li>
We have no information on the other methods listed above.</li>
</ul>
<li>
Macintosh</li>
<ul>
<li>
Doug Hornig has
ported Shorten
as GUI in various forms for OS X (
Carbonized),
Power Mac OS 7-9 and 68K. Includes functions for md5 checking and SHN>AIFF.</li>
<li>
Mark Domyancich et al have an
alternate
setup (also
mirrored) for OSX that
overcomes some limitations of the GUI versions above. The procedure is
especially valuable if you plan to create and seed acceptable shns from
your Mac later on.</li>
<li>
Mike Kelleher's
Mac User's Etree
FAQ. There is also an older mirror at
etree.org.</li>
<li>
Joliet tool Handy support
tool to read shn filenames created by PC users.</li>
<li>
shntool
Handy utility to check length, detect and fix sector boundary errors, etc.
Recommended as an extra support program, once you're already comfortable
with shns.</li>
</ul>
<li>
Linux/Unix</li>
<ul>
<li>
Doug Hornig has also
ported
Shorten for this environment.</li>
<li>
etree.org has an excellent, detailed
Linux
page with links to many tools.</li>
</ul>
<li>
Amiga</li>
<ul>
<li>
Apparently no support yet. An experienced person would have to port it
and release it. Source code is
available
for
noncommercial
use. Drop us a line if you create an Amiga version and we will link
it here.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
What about errors?
<p>When you decompress a shn you may occasionally see an error. If so,
did you check the shns against the md5s first (see
above)?
If the md5 check fails, you know there will be some kind of problem. If
you have a corrupt shn, it's best to delete it and obtain an uncorrupted
copy. Here are some typical error reports and what they mean
<ul>
<li>
"Premature EOF on compressed stream"- The shn file is shorter than it's
supposed to be, often due to a file corruption, perhaps caused by an error
during download. Alternatively your hard drive may be full. Depending on
the version of Shorten, you may get a note to contact Softsound. Don't
bother with that, since they can't fix the music file.</li>
<li>
"Failed to write decompressed stream"- Your hard drive is too full.</li>
<li>
"Sanity check fails trying to decode function (number)"- Usually the result
of a corrupt file.</li>
<li>
"No magic number"- Indicates a corrupt file.</li>
</ul>
If the md5 check passes but you still get an error message indicating corruption,
it's an unfortunate situation. The shn may have been corrupted at the time
it was compressed from wav. This happens rarely but does occur. The typical
remedy is to have the original "seeder" create a fresh shn for distribution.
<h4>
Can you play SHNs directly on your computer?</h4>
You can listen to shns "on the fly" on your computer without decompressing
them to wavs first. Bear in mind that after downloading the shns, you should
still use the md5s to check the file integrity (see
above)
before playing. Corrupt files may not play correctly. If you can't use
the methods below, you can always decompress and use other tools to play
the uncompressed audio data as usual. However, note that shns or wavs played
on typical computer speakers don't sound much better than mp3s. Some choices
<ul>
<li>
Windows</li>
<ul>
<li>
Wayne Stielau's
ShnAmp
plugin for WinAmp allows you to play shns on the PC without decompression.
Note
You will need to use ShnAmp3 in order to work with the Winamp3.</li>
<li>
SoftSound's registered version of
Shorten for Windows will play shns directly.</li>
</ul>
<li>
Mac</li>
<ul>
<li>
A Shorten plugin has been available for
MacAmp
Lite X.
Update 1/2003- Company is apparently out of business
now. Please send alternate links for this software if available. That plugin
is no longer separately linked. Reportedly the beta version (r10c2) on
the ghost page has Shorten and FLAC plugins already built in.</li>
</ul>
<li>
Linux/Unix</li>
<ul>
<li>
Jason Jordan's xmms-shn plugin is covered on etree.org's
Linux
page.</li>
<li>
Also,
here
is a simple suggested script.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
Coders have produced different versions of Shorten that create "seek tables",
either attached to the shns or as separate ".skt"url==http://=http:///url files. This lets ShnAmp
and xmms-shn users skip ahead during play. Note that although the audio
portions are not altered, these additions will change the md5 fingerprint
of any shn file, relative to the non-seeking shn version. For detailed
explanation- and cautions about creating seek tables- see the etree.org
seeking
FAQ.
<ul>
<li>
These Shorten versions create shns with seek tables (appended or separate,
depending on settings)</li>
<ul>
<li>
Shorten "v3"- fan-modified version,
released 10/3/00.</li>
<li>
mkwACT 0.97beta1 with
appropriate settings (XP must run in
compatibility
mode). There will probably not be any higher versions than this.</li>
<li>
Monkey's Audio Shorten support
function- creates seek-appended shns only</li>
</ul>
<li>
These Shorten versions create shns without seek tables</li>
<ul>
<li>
Shorten
"v2" (right-click to "save as" on shorten.exe link on the archived
page) Fan-modified version, prior to 10/3/00. All shns created before 10/3/00
do not have seek tables appended.</li>
<li>
mkwACT 0.97beta1 with
appropriate settings, or 0.96f and lower</li>
<li>
SoftSound's Shorten</li>
</ul>
</ul>
What if the resource links above don't work?
<p>Additional mirror or archive sites for some of the tools listed above
may be found here
<ul>
<li>
Wayback Machine for archives of the same
links</li>
<li>
shns.net</li>
<li>
cyberial courtesy of
Mike
Wren</li>
<li>
chubbsub Downloads courtesy of John
Pahlow</li>
</ul>
<h4>
What about other lossless compression schemes?</h4>
Shorten is currently the standard lossless compression method used in trading
communities. Many versions are free, it's usable on nearly all platforms,
and it has a large pool of experienced users. Below are a couple of other
file types in use. If you are further interested in the topic, try
here
or
here for
starters. Both sites have recent comparisons including recent schemes.
<blockquote>
<li>
FLAC (extension .flacurl==http://=http:///url) is free,
open source and under active development. It is usable on many platforms
including Windows, Unix and OS X. FLAC also supports 24-bit as well as
the 16-bit audio taken by Shorten. This has strong future potential. Etree.org
is just starting to try it out-
more
info. (Also, see
Mike Wren's site.)</li>
<li>
Monkey's Audio (extension .apeurl==http://=http:///url)
by Matthew T. Ashland is also free, open source and under active development.
It is currently available in Windows and is being developed for other platforms.
Monkey's Audio also supports 24-bit as well as 16-bit audio, and supports
other schemes including Shorten. This also has strong future potential.</li>
<li>
MKW (extension .mkwurl==http://=http:///url) was in development by Michael K. Weise. This is not
comparable in tightness of compression to Shorten and more importantly,
it cannot be used cross-platform (Windows only). The scheme is folded into
Michael's popular
Shorten
tool (see
above, often itself nicknamed
"MKW") and is sometimes used by accident. If you get a show as .mkw,url==http://=http:///url consider
using the mkwACT tool to change it from mkw> wav> shn, for all to enjoy.</li>
</blockquote>
<center>
SHN
Resources |
Lossless Sources
Database |
Live Music Archive
<p>If you have comments or suggestions, email Diana and Greg at
hamilton@umbc.edu
<br>
This site and its collections of data copyright © 1999-2003
by Greg and Diana Hamilton. Permission is granted for noncommercial use
only.</center>