I know mp3 files are pretty stripped down, but I still wonder, is there much to gain from zipping audio files using WinZip or -Rar (or anything similar)? Let's say I want to shrink an entire album, would it be about the same size or would I want to bother?

I don't know to what extend you can pack audio files but I do know that the effectivity of packing pretty much depends on the format you compress the file into.
I would recommend RAR or ACE.
I have not that much experience with other ones. :unsure:

It doesn't really bring you much if you compress the MP3 files with a RAR archive, only few KB's less, not even talking about ZIP format at all.

You might try 7-Zip (it's not the same as ZIP), but its' efficiency varies a lot.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mighty Midget @ May 31 2007, 10:15 AM) [snapback]292298[/snapback]</div>Don't bother. Zipping mp3 won't really bring you anything.

Thanks guys, for swift replies. It seems there won't be any point, so I won't bother. Oh well.

It makes sense if You want to have one file instead of multiple. To share it over eMule or something - it's easier, when it's all together.

Zipping, raring - as some people said here - no sense.

WinUHA might be able to squash the MP3's with good results, but didn't try it myself, only heard it's strong.