shntool help

[moemusic]

Well, I've been avoiding shntool but no longer can. I've been getting a lot of trades in audio format and am finding that most of those who just want to trade audio cd's are both lazy and don't care about DAE :nono: . They Think DAE is fidiot proof and figure faster burning = good burning :nono: . I had one guy tell me that flaws in boots are to be expected when i asked him for a "GOOD COPY." But this fidiot never responded when i informed him that diginoise isn't a flaw that should be expected nor tolerated :nono: . I've got a pile of discs I'm looking for better sources.

Ok, so since many of these fidiots are so good a ruining a good show with their laziness and stupidity :nono: , I figure I need learn shntool and make sure there's no sbe's. So I downloaded and installed shntool. I even found a Microsoft Power toy for XP that allows you to open the command prompt on a folder so you needn't go thru the change directory crap.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

So i installed shntool and have read the tutorial that came with shntool. I did the echo path thingy and installed shntool in windows/system32. I did the verify thing and it gave all the version info indicating that shntool is working properly, as the install notes stated.

So then i was ready to play with shntool but i get an error message when I use shntool.

D:\Rips\_HD2\WSP\96-01-23\d1> shntool len *.shn
length expanded size cdr WAVE problems filename
shntool [len]: warning: could not read data from file 'wsp_96-01-23_d1t01.shn'
using the 'shn' format module - possible causes:
shntool [len]: + decoder program 'shorten' may not have been found
verify it is installed and in your PATH

I've changed the compatability of mkw to windows 2000. But I am very confused because mkw was installed in the program files using the default directory. Do I need to install mkw in the system32 folder also? Or is the "decoder program 'shorten' " another app altogether?

Thanks!

[RainDawg]

The decoder program shorten.exe must also be placed into the "path", as well as shntool.exe.

http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shntool/

You can download the shorten.exe from there, which is the tool you'll need for SHN files. On that page, you can also grab the flac.exe and mac.exe files that you'll need to use shntool with FLAC and APE respectively.

And finally, you can download the updated copy of cygwin1.dll from that page, which shntool will need if you didn't install it too when you installed shntool.

[RainDawg]

By the way, which power toy did you use to install that capability? You can always add "open with command prompt" to any folder in the shell with a simple registry entry, if that's all you're looking for, without needing yet another MS tool to do it for you.

[moemusic]

I just downloaded shntool 2 nites ago from etree so I imagine the cygwin1.dll file included in the zip is the most current. But I grabbed it any way. I grabbed the shorten and placed it in my path (windows\system32) and it works like a charm :clap: Thanks!!!! I just wonder why somethng called shntool doesn't have everything in the zip one needs to use shntool...hmmmm

Now, I think I got the ape thingy (mac.exe) but the flac thingy is confusing. They have a link to source forge. As usual source forge has a zillion links to download. I've always had problems figuring out which file to download on source forge. So to keep the streak alive, I don't know which file I download off source forge to get flac.exe.

As for the powertoy I used to get teh Open Command Window, here's the link

http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/CmdHerePowertoySetup.exe

Now I'm not a computer dummy but I here the term "Shell" used a lot. Is the term Shell and Context Menu synonomous?

I think I just answered that question. I went to kelly's corner and found a reg edit to add open command window to the "Shell".

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

I grabbed the reg edit and opened it in notpad and here's what it says:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Command Prompt Here]
@="Command &Prompt Here"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Command Prompt Here\command]
@="cmd.exe /k cd %1 "

Damn, had I of known this I'd never have installed the powertoy. guess I'll save this reg edit and put it in my "Fresh Install" reg edit I made with all the registry changes I do when I reformat.

Thanks RainDawg!!

Oh, on a side question. I just recieved a SRV 07/17/88 Finland show in a trade. Fidiot put one cd on a cd-rw. He was supposed to send shn's. Does cd-rw have any audio quality issues?

Thanks!!!

[RainDawg]

As the shntool documentation states, the name shntool itself was created back when shn was THE lossless codec. It was intended to make calls to the already existing shorten.exe. A lot of programmers like to keep things that are separate, separate, and so as more codecs came into existence, people just had to add different binaries to make the thing work. Don't think of shntool as being necessarily related to shn though....;)

As for FLAC, if you already have FLAC frontend installed, it will have put flac.exe into your path, so don't worry about it. In fact, go ahead and try shntool on a bunch of FLACs, but I doubt you'll have an issue.

Also, yes, all you need to do is add those registry items, and it will work. No, the "shell" is not the context menu. It's more just a term for the directory structure and they way in which Windows addresses and calls files.

And finally :) there should be no quality issues with a CD-RW that are not there for CDRs unless they are ones that have been used a lot and are scratched up. I would think, however, that some fidiot (never heard that term before....) who was dumb enough to send an RW though probably didn't use EAC and take precautions to make sure the audio was clean before trading though...so give it a good listen before trading.

I THINK that answers your questions. I'm glad to see another person learning to use and becoming comfortable with shntool. Use of this program should be mandatory for lossless traders who use the Windows platform...

[ffooky]

Use of this program should be mandatory for lossless traders who use the Windows platform...

Absolutely...but why single out Windows ?

[RainDawg]

As far as I know, shntool does not run under other platforms. I know xACT has created many of the same functions for Mac, but I'm unaware of any comparable program for Linux. Perhaps you can fill me in if I am mistaken.

[jazzbo]

Um, shntool is a unix program that was later ported to Windows. It is also available for OS X.

[RainDawg]

OK, then I stand corrected....:)

[moemusic]

Absolutely...but why single out Windows ?

Because there's more fidiots using windows that are hell bent in screwing things up. lmao

[moemusic]

so I've been playing with shntool and it's actually not that bad. Last spring someone was telling me it was screwed and confusing. Guess I should have considered the source :rolleyes:

And as luck would have it, flac frontend must not have installed flac.exe I tried it on a flac folder and got the same error messages as I did before installing shn.exe. :( Maybe I'll try and reinstall it since I think I used the custom install and if that was a choice I may have not checked it since I didn't know what it was.

Question tho. I found a couple shows that had sbe's on the last track of a disc. do those need to be fixed? One was only a single disc show and the other was the last track of disc 1 of a 2 disc show.

[RainDawg]

I like to fix SBEs at the end of a set, but sometimes it's not worth it. Use your own discretion.

[uhclem]

Now, I think I got the ape thingy (mac.exe) but the flac thingy is confusing. They have a link to source forge. As usual source forge has a zillion links to download. I've always had problems figuring out which file to download on source forge. So to keep the streak alive, I don't know which file I download off source forge to get flac.exe.
Shntool doesn't bundle shorten.exe with it because many people already have shorten.exe when they get shntool. Plus if you actually take a moment to read the shntool site and docs it tells you that you need shorten.exe if you are working with SHNs.

As for FLAC, you need flac.exe. The shntool homepage doesn't have the latest version, but the FLAC homepage does, and so does my homepage (http://home.ripway.com/2004-12/223394/files/).

[randytravis]

also, using the command line:

shntool len -u mb *.whateverformat


will output the results in MB instead of bytes. much easier to look at ;)

[rerem]

command line stuff drives me nuts-rumor is a GUI Shntool with installer is not far off. I always put semicolons instead of colons or frontslash instead of backslash or some goofy screwup,I'm helpless if it looks like DOS

[RainDawg]

It's true, the GUI shntool is not far off....it was slated for release after the holidays, but then I discovered this:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/

I've been unable to get anything done since ;).