This wiki page gives a quick orientation on your way to the actual [Some SHNs in Circulation] Database. The database contains information about music that fans have been trading in Shorten format- and more recently, FLAC format too.

The [Some SHNs in Circulation] Database is a companion to the [Traders Database]. The two are inter-related, but there are important differences between them. To be listed in the SHN Database, artists must be known TradeFriendly, and therefore sanctioned for etree.org trading. In contrast, the underlying [Traders Database] of setlists is more open to direct user input, with new artists or shows added [at users' discretion].

• The [walkthrough] page gives a more detailed description of the SHN Database. (That doc is a little old in spots and will be wikified at db:ShnDatabaseGuide? later, but should answer most questions.)
• There are no music files in the database, only information about them.
• All artists in the [SHN Database] are TradeFriendly, while artists in the larger [Traders Database] may not be.
• Each artist section in the [SHN Database] is maintained by one or more db:volunteer s.
• If an artist is not yet listed in the [SHN Database]:
  • He might not be known TradeFriendly.
  • No db:volunteer may have stepped forward to be shn admins yet.
  • None of the artist's material may circulate in shn form yet.
• Each entry in the [SHN Database] corresponds to a set of Shorten or FLAC files in circulation. The database is like a simple phonebook of lossless fileset information, listing the good as well the bad, not necessarily just the best ones. Each entry has space for public comments about quality, etc.
• If a shn or flac set is not yet listed, it may be because no one has [submitted the info] to the shn admins yet. Info can now be sent by a [web form], see db:SubmitShnInfo? if you need advice.
• The [SHN Database] has recently started to include listings for other lossless filetypes besides Shorten, such as FLAC and [APE]. Its name is now "historical."
• SHN Admins can login to [SHN Maintenance] to keep the lists for their artists updated.
• The entire http://db.etree.org site is created and owned by Tom Anderson...the man!!