ShrinkMyTunes

Some MP3 players come with so much space that you’re going to be hard-pressed to fill them. The latest iPod, for example, offers 80GB of storage space, holding around 20,000 tracks. However, if you’ve got one of the smaller, cheaper models, you could find yourself running out of room fairly quickly. So wouldn’t it be handy if you could squash your music files smaller and simply get more songs on your player?

Features
You could do this by dropping the bit rate when you rip your CDs. However, this basically samples less of the audio on the CD, thereby reducing quality. Instead, the ex-NASA programmers behind ShrinkMyTunes have created special algorithms designed to squeeze unnecessary information out of high-quality MP3s and get them down to about a quarter of the size, without having too much of an impact on the sound quality.

Performance
To test the software we ripped a handful of albums to both 192Kbps and 320Kbps MP3s using Windows Media Player. We then used the software to shrink the 320Kbps files. This had a big impact, reducing the albums from an average 84MB down to a miniscule 16.3MB – about 20 per cent of the size. This was also significantly smaller than the 192Kbps average (50MB). Interestingly, we then tried to shrink the 192Kbps files and they still came out at around the 16MB mark. The difference in sound quality was discernable between the 320Kbps and the shrunk files, but less so at 192Kbps, and is certainly good enough for sticking on an iPod unless you’ve upgraded the earbuds for better sound. Audiophiles may be less impressed, unless they’re really short on space and are willing to selectively sacrifice a bit of quality.

Ease of use
Going through the process couldn’t be easier. Load the software, find the folder of tunes you want to shrink, choose whether you want to replace them or save them to a new folder, and click OK. The only way we could think of making it easier would be to plug it directly in to your music player, though as it stands, it doesn’t matter which player you use.

Value for money
There are other, less efficient but free ways of shrinking your files, such as dropping the bit rate or zipping them up while you’re not using them. But this does a good job of squeezing file sizes with a disproportionate lack of reduction in quality, while keeping the files playable. Whether this is for you is a balance between your need for space and your requirement for the highest sound quality.