MP3 Playback Without Breaks

[silverbetty]

I sent a few shows to someone in MP3 format. I burned the CD as data so three shows would fit on the CD. The playback has a break between tracks. Does anyone know how to burn a data CD of MP3 without the breaks?

Thanks.

[chippewa]

Not an expert, but as I understand it, an mp3 file will always have that little gap of silence at the end (and beginning) of each track. I've never seen a way around it, while still keeping the mp3 format. For live show recording without gaps, I've converted mp3s to .wav files and edited out the silence at the beginning and end of each file. Time consuming, and you won't get three shows on a cd since the sound is no longer compressed (like an mp3).

[ParrotHead Elm]

I believe there are mp3 'trimming' applications out there, some which will remove the silent areas.

Also, from my personal experience I know sometimes when you are burning cds with mp3's there's a setting for this 'gap.' The default was 2 seconds in the program I used. Check that out and make sure it's set at zero.

[gingerbreadman]

I sent a few shows to someone in MP3 format. I burned the CD as data so three shows would fit on the CD. The playback has a break between tracks. Does anyone know how to burn a data CD of MP3 without the breaks?

It is not possible to burn a data CD of MP3 without the breaks. Like chippewa said, the mp3 files will always have these little gaps of silence at the beginning and end. This is actually part of the mp3 format, so there is no way around it. The gaps contain important file info, but no music info.

The solution is implemented in the player. Lets say you are playing a tracklist in your player. Some players can read ahead to the next track, buffer it, and skip over the silence. I saw here WinAmp with a certain plug-in can do just this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gapless_playback

My personal favorite player is Windows Media Player, but it cannot do gapless playback of MP3. So I have given up on MP3 and instead for lossy format I use WMA. To me WMA sounds about the same as MP3. The WMA files don't have any gaps or breaks, and they can also be used directly to burn a music CD also without gaps.

Finally, a half-way solution, if your stuck with MP3's and don't want to edit them, is to burn a music CD but apply a cross-fade between the tracks. This might seem to help remove the silence but then it's not a data CD.

For live show recording without gaps, I've converted mp3s to .wav files and edited out the silence at the beginning and end of each file. Time consuming, and you won't get three shows on a cd since the sound is no longer compressed (like an mp3).

Done that before, and that is BIG pain. That's actually how I discovered "the extra space". Looking at the wav file I made from an MP3 in my music editor, I was like "how did all this space get in here???"

[silverbetty]

Thanks for the responses. I figured it was something that couldn't be fixed for MP3s.

[Down2TheC]

The gap probably isn't in the MP3. MP3 players (iPod, wniamp, etc) always take a sec to get the next track. If you use those files to make a regular audio CD the gaps will be gone.