I hope someone can help me with some expert opinion on how Winrar works when creating an uncompressed archive.
My reason for wanting to know:
I have been told that, if you want to combine a lot of small mp3 files into one large file, which can be played as a single file, but still want to be able to break it back up into the original small files later, you can do the following:
Use Winrar to combine the small files into an uncompressed "store" archive. Change the file extension from .zip to .mp3 and viola! The archive, renamed .mp3, can be played as a single mp3 file. When you want to disassemble the file back into its component files, rename it to .zip and uncompress it.
I have tried this, and the large file can indeed be played as a single mp3 file on my computer or mp3 player.
However, as I don't understand what winrar does when it creates an uncompressed archive, I don't really trust this process. I have run the large file through a shareware program that tests the integrity of mp3 files, and it gives the message "garbage at end of file".
Can anyone explain to me what Winrar does when it creates an uncompressed archive, and whether there are any serious downsides to this process, which I, as a techno-newbie do not forsee?
(In case anyone is interested in why I would want to do this in the first place - I belong to a newsgroup where some people want audiobooks posted in their original format as large numbers of small mp3 files, whereas others want them posted as a small number of larger files. Zip or Rar files are not allowed on the newsgroup. So, some bright spark came up with the above compromise process - post one, large, seemingly mp3 file which can indeed be played as a single file - but which can be broken up into its component small files by people who prefer that format.)