On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 00:10:42 -0700, Dave said in
alt.radio.scanner:

But IMHO, it's not safe to update the headers (which is
necessary to append more audio) of the .WAV or .MP3 file
that's already been closed because the computer could die in
the middle of the update and that might leave the file
crippled.

Same problem text editors have. You update a copy of the file,
deleting and renaming only after a successful update. (Which is why
Word leaves ~garbage.doc files around.)

Manipulating the previously saved headers can
invite other problems too, such as adding a lot of disk
seeking and CPU time to reopen the file for appending after
it's already been closed. Appending more audio requires a
read-scan of the entire file in order to locate and change
the existing audio (RIFF) headers.

My computer can do video decode at 150fps or better, while streaming
audio to the web. I don't think CPU power is something we have to
worry about with files or audio any longer.

Unlike Zombie Wolf, I don't have any pressing projects at the moment,
so if you'd like a collaborator, let me know.