MP3's

[Geebster]

I've stored some very large files in shorten and flacs formats and have always gotten the same filesize when I uncompressed also. 45 minutes or so of music per file.

The approximate length of my test file in terms of minutes was a little over 40 minutes.

GB

[Geebster]

I don't know if this is any value to anyone, but this is what I do to make sure I am not left with a file that will not decompress after storage. I've had Craig's concerns too in that what happens after many years of storage and the original program has either gone through various upgrades or no longer is being supported? I solve that issue by placing a copy of the original compression program right on the media along with the compressed audio files.

That way, if the version I used originally no longer is supported, I have the program right there to use. The compression programs are so small in comparison to the audio files, it is pretty cheap insurance that you will be able to decompress your files in the future.

GB.

[Dan McDonald]

I save the programs also- I have versions of shorten that will run as a dos program, but also several versions in windows. They're usually such small programs that it's easy enough to save them with the files.

[Geebster]

Hi Dan...

I didn't even realize that my conversion program had "shorten" until you mentioned it. I tried it out on the 438,897KB file and the resulting "shortened" file was 284,969KB.

Does this result seem typical to you? I ask because of all the compression schemes this compressed the file the least (65% of orginal file size).

GB

[Dan McDonald]

I think it is typically a little less compressed than flac. I don't know Monkey's Audio, so I can't compare, but I am pretty sure that is why a lot of people have moved to flac instead of shorten. Shorten came out quite a while back, so it's not too surprising that it offers less compression.

Dan

[Geebster]

I think it is typically a little less compressed than flac. I don't know Monkey's Audio, so I can't compare, but I am pretty sure that is why a lot of people have moved to flac instead of shorten. Shorten came out quite a while back, so it's not too surprising that it offers less compression.

Dan

Thanks for the info... I'm the least familiar with shorten. I've used .ape (monkey's) the most; and I've never had a problem with it. And like all the other popular compression schemes, it is supported by quite a few of the popular media players too.

GB