Windows XP batch files for shorten and md5sum
The first thing youll need is shortn32.exe and md5sum.exe installed on your computer. I have chosen to install them in C:\util. If you have them somewhere else youll need to alter your batch files to reflect that. If you dont have these 2 files you can download them from http://etree.org/software. You will also want a folder on your C drive called "burning." (c:\burning)
Section 1: Creating Batch Files
1. Open notepad and enter this text:
@echo off
cls
for %%f in (*.shn) do c:\util\shortn32.exe -x %%f c:\burning\%%f.wav
exit
and name it unshorten.bat
2. Open notepad and enter this text:
@echo off
cls
for %%f in (*.wav) do c:\util\shortn32.exe %%f
exit
and name it shorten.bat
3. Open notepad and enter this text:
cls
for %%f in (*.md5) do c:\util\md5sum.exe --check %%f
pause
and name it checksum.bat
Now you need to find your "folder options." In WinXP if you open a Windows Explorer window you will see a button called "Tools." If you click "Tools" you will then see "Folder Options." Within "Folder Options" you will see 3 tabs. "General," "View," and "File Types." Go to the "File Types" tab, and browse down to SHN (if you havent ever worked with shn files it may not be there, in which case you can create it from the same menu you are in by clicking "New.") Click "Advanced" and choose to create a new action by again clicking "New." Call this first action "Extract," and for the Application used to perform action put "c:\util\shortn32.exe" -x "%1" "%1.wav" WITH the quotes. This will allow you to right click on a shorten file in a directory and select "Extract" and have a wav file created in the same dir. Click "OK" and go back out to the "Edit File Type" window.
Create another new action for .shn files and call it "Extract All." Browse to the file you just created called "unshorten.bat" and select it. (c:\util\unshorten.bat) You will now be able to right click in a directory with shn files, select "Extract All" and have all of the resulting .wav files end up in your c:\burning folder ready to be burned to audio cdr.
Now go back out to the "File Types" tab and scroll up to MD5. Choose to create a new action for .md5 files and call it "Verify." Browse to the checksum.bat file you just created and select it as the "Application used to perform action." Now you can right click on any .md5 file and select "Verify" and have it check your files.
Go back out to the "File Types" tab again and scroll down to WAV. Choose to create a new action for .wav files and call it "Compress to .shn." Enter "c:\util\shortn32.exe" "%1" "%1.shn" (WITH quotes) into the space for "Application used to perform action." Now you can right click a .wav file and compress it to shorten by selecting "Compress to .shn."
Create another new action for WAV files and call it "Compress All." Browse to and select the shorten.bat file you created for the "application used..." This will allow you to right click in a directory with multiple .wav files and compress them all to .shn with one click.
Additional Options
If you have shntool installed on your computer you can also create these batch files and actions:
(note: shntool should be in your C:\windows\system32 folder)
Call both this batch file and the new action you make for it "Shnlength." Use the .bat file for the application used to perform the action.
@echo off
cls
for %%f in (*shn) do c:\windows\system32\shntool len -u mb *shn
pause
exit
Call both this batch file and new action you make for it "Shninfo." Use the .bat file for the application used to perform the action.
@echo off
cls
for %%f in (*shn) do c:\windows\system32\shntool info *shn
pause
exit
There are countless other options you can do here with shntool, dont be afraid to experiment. If you write some you can feel free to email me and have it added to the page. In fact, Id love it if someone did that, say for shntool fix and other commands. Maybe one day I will get around to it, say... summer?
Once again the typical thanks go out to Jeremy Clark and Andy Fox for their similar guides, and to the etree team whose countless pages of information led me to understanding of the shorten format in the beginning.