So, you want to sign up for a Yesswap tree or weed, but the tree or weed is SHN only, and you don't know anything about SHN. Well, it's easy, and this guide will walk you through it.
 

First thing, you will need to download some software. For this guide, I am using mkw Audio Compression Too. You can download it from http://www.etree.org/mkw.html. Instructions on downloading and installing this software are available at that site. I recommend leaving all install options set to their defaults.

So, you got a SHN disc. If you need to copy it for a tree or weed or something, its simple. Just use the "Disc Copier" function on your CD burning software. You don't need to worry about ripping it, since the SHN disc is a data disc. Data discs have all the necessary error checking built in, so if you get a "Copy Successful" message, you can be pretty sure that you got a good copy. It is a good idea to check the md5 signatures on the copy of the disc you created. Instructions can be found in Step 5 below, just be sure that you are pointing to the md5 file on the CD you created.

Now, you want to make an audio disc so you can listen to your new show. Obviously, CD players can't play SHN discs, so you have to create one.
 

I am going to walk you through making an audio disc. For this example, we will use the Lewiston 8/22/2001 soundboard SHN disc 1. (You will have to repeat the process for disc 2). Here's what you need to do:

"I'm at the computer and ready....but I wish that was a different kind of mouse!"

1. Make sure the mkw Audio Compression Tool software is installed.

2. Put the CD in your CD drive. If a window does not pop up displaying the CD's contents, open "My Computer" and double click the icon for your CD drive. You should see the contents of the CD. The SHN's are in the "CD1" folder, so double click it to open it up.

3. Open my computer again, this time navigate to a folder on your hard drive that has enough free space to hold the SHN files, plus enough space for a the wave files that will be created when the SHN is created. For this disc, the SHN files take up 570MB and the wave files will take up 801 MB, so you will need to have ~1.4 GB free.

4. Copy the contents from the CD1 folder on the CD, to the folder on your hard drive you picked in the last step. For this example, I am using D:\Temp. You can do this by selecting all files from the chosing "Select All" from the Edit menu and then selecting "Copy" from the Edit menu. Then, switch to your destination folder, and select "Paste" from the Edit menu. Alternatively, you can simply drag the contents from one folder to the other. Be sure to grab the "2002-08-22-1.md5" file as well. You'll need that.

"Can I lick the disc yet?"

5. Once the files are copied, you will want to verify the MD5 signatures. The MD5 signatures are a kind of digital footprint. They are used to compare against the original to original SHN's to make sure they were copied correctly. Simply double click on the "2002-08-22-1.md5" file. You will see an mkw window like the one below.

You should see the following window once the verification is compelte:

If you get a message indicating that the verification has failed, it means that somehow the file did not copy correctly. You can try to copy it again from the CD, but if that doesn't work, you will have to ask your source for a new CD.

Ginny gets pissed when the MD5 signatures don't verify!

6. Next we will create the wave files you will use to make your audio CD. Select all the SHN files (you can do this by holding down the [Ctrl] key on your keyboard, and clicking each one. Hold your mouse pointer over any one of them and right click. You will see a pop up menu that looks similar to the one below. Select the optoion that says "decode to WAV". If you do not have that option, then the mkw Audio Compression Tool software may not have been properly installed. You can also open the mkw software from the Start menu, and drag and drop your SHN files into the mkw window.

7. You will see an mkw window that looks like the one below.

Once complete, you should see that mkw is "idle". You can close the mkw software at this point. For this demonstration, you should have nine wave files on your hard drive.

8. Now all you need to do is create an audio disc from the wave files. This can be done using any CD burning software you chose. For this example, I am going to use Nero, though you may use any CD authoring software you are familiar with. But if you are not using Nero, then you need to find another cat to come up with a step-by-step guide for you.

"I told you SHN was easy!"

Open Nero, and cancel out of any wizard that may appear. Then, select "New compilation" from the File menu, and select Audio CD from the pop-up window and click the "New" button.

You should see two windows, the "File Browser" window and the "Audio1" window. Navigate the "File Browser" window to D:\Temp (substitute your folder on the hard drive for D:\temp). Click on the Type box on the right hand panel of the "File Browser" window, and this will sort the files by Type.

Next, drag the .wav files from the File Browser window to the Audio 1 window. (Note: Your .wav files might not say "Winamp media file"). Your Audio1 window should look like the one below, if it doesn't drag the files until you have them in the right order.

Next select the "02 - Close To The Edge" track and then hold down the [Shift] key and select the "09- Wonderous Stories" track, so that tracks through 2 through 9 are highlighted.

Now place your mouse over one of the selected tracks and right click. Select properties. In the pop-up window that pops up, change the number in the "Pause" box from 2 to 0. Click the OK button

You should see in the "Audio1" window that tracks 2 through 9 now say 00:00.00 for the "Pause". This is so that there will be no gaps between tracks. The first track must have a the Pause set to 00:02.00 because a standard CD has a pause of 2 seconds before the first track. Nero defaults to 2 second gaps between every track, so you have to manually tell it otherwise which is what we did here.

All thats left is for you to burn your disc. Put a blank CD in your CDR drive, and select the "Write CD" button from the button bar at the top of Nero. Its the one that looks like a CD with a bit of fire and a finger pointing to it. (the 9th one from the left in the following picture).

Then, on this pop-up, select your burn speed, and make sure the drop down says "Disc At Once" Then click the "Write" button.

 

And you did it, you successfully made an audio disc out of SHN's. Repeat these steps for disc two and any other SHN discs you may receive.

"Now that the audio CD is made, I can lick the SHN disc!"

Click here for Ginny's Guide To Making Perfect Audio CD copies using Exact Audio Copy.

For more detailed information on SHN, check out these resources:
http://research.umbc.edu/~hamilton/shnfaq.html
http://pageproducer.arczip.com/kristijoff/SHN101.html
http://research.umbc.edu/~hamilton/shnlinks.html

mkw Audio compression information here:
http://www.etree.org/mkw.html