Shrink Your Tunes

The iPod (now iPod Classic) finally has the 160GB of storage we always dreamed of, but who's going to care now that the iPod Touch has been released? The problem with the iPod Touch and iPhone is that they only come in 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB capacities, yet cost more than other iPods with more storage. That's not a lot of room for all of your music.

A London-based company has released ShrinkMyTunes, a Windows-based application that claims to reduce the size of your music by half, giving you more space for all your tunes. It currently retails online for $40. The site has a few music samples so you can compare the sound quality between tracks after they've been compressed. Wired tested the software and found that when songs were reduced at "Best Quality" the "sound was close to that of Internet radio, but with better dynamics."

Unfortunately, the software only compresses MP3, mp3PRO, and WAV files, meaning it doesn't compress AAC or WMA files yet (they say they're working on it). ShrinkMyTunes is currently available online and will be in appear in retail stores, such as Office Depot, later this month.