As some visitors to arfore.com will have noticed I feature a list of recent etree.org downloads on my Listening page. The files from etree.org are live shows recorded by dedicated fans and concert goers. Many, if not most, of these recordings are posted in one of two lossless file formats: SHN and FLAC.
Both of these file formats are used for compressing audio files. The reason they are used is due to the fact that they are lossless formats. Lossless compression allows for the expansion of the of the file into an exact duplicate of the original recorded audio stream.
iTunes supports a different lossless format: Apple Lossless. Unfortunately, iTunes does not support playback of either FLAC or SHN files. So what is an audiophile to do? Using two different free programs you will be able to easily convert both FLAC and SHN files to a format that iTunes can use, thus giving you the ability to take those awesome concerts with you everywhere on your iPod or iPhone. Continue reading