They connect you to a peer-to-peer service where people share SHN versions of concert recordings (kind of like Napster used to do with MP3s, but this is endorsed by the artists being permitted and the sound quality is better - no loss of quality such as you get with MP3).

They have hundred of artists who permit this such as U2, Tori Amos, Neil Young, Pink Floyd (full list of artists) and thousands of shows that vary constantly. You can search for live recordings, pick some, let it go overnight and they're usually there in the morning.

Play them via ShnAmp (the Shorten plugin for Winamp) or use the mkw Audio Compression Tool (mkwACT) to convert to WAV and burn to CD with any CD burning software such as Nero.

I got dozens of the ones that I have on http://leopig.com/heathernova/others.html from there, it's easier and cheaper than trading by mail... Quality varies (soundboard - or "SBD" - sourced recordings are generally far superior to "audience" ones) but mostly people don't bother to offer poor recordings.

Please don't be a leech and only take stuff. Once you get comfortable with the process, "seed" some shows that you have - it's easy to create the SHNs using mkwACT and create the file set using the Furthur software. Help the service to grow!

If you're going to tape your own show, see the taper's guide to taping U2 as a great source of general strategy.