Comments on: How to get iTunes to play tracks without gaps?

Question: How to get iTunes to play tracks without gaps?

tommyc — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 12:58:38 -0800

Seamless tracks in iTunes?

When playing tracks in iTunes there's always an annoying gap between tracks while the computer catches up with the next song. Is there a plugin or hack to pre-buffer the next song so I get a seamless audio experience? I remember Winamp being able to do this.

By: FreezBoy

FreezBoy — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:04:18 -0800

iTunes > Preferences > Audio > Crossfade Playback

By: selfnoise

selfnoise — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:07:39 -0800

Although that won't actually solve your problem, just conceal it in a sometimes annoying fashion. I don't think itunes does gapless playback, just as the ipod doesn't.

By: danb

danb — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:08:52 -0800

I've looked into it before, and there doesn't seem to be a solution. I just use MacAmp for all my gapless audio needs (e.g., live FLAC bootlegs).

By: tommyc

tommyc — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:10:03 -0800

Thanks FreezBoy, but tried that - it works "too well" and cuts off the beginning of the next track, as selfnoise noted. Darn, that's a shame, someone could get rich with a seamless plugin.

By: terrapin

terrapin — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:11:59 -0800

This has been asked a few times before here. Maybe someone marked something as a best answer. Otherwise I suggest Googling to see if Playlist Magazine, or or ipodlounge.com or someplace has a work-around.

My personal experience is either to join the tracks or use Toast (Mac user) to burn CDs with no gaps.

By: cribcage

cribcage — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:21:33 -0800

Ditto. No solution. Here's hoping Apple will get around to it...

By: Rothko

Rothko — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:30:13 -0800

The feedback section might be a good place to lodge a feature request. Enough people requesting it will make it that much more likely that developers will be assigned to solve this problem.

By: chrismear

chrismear — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:38:23 -0800

Turning on 'crossfade playback' and setting the overlap time to 0 seconds has always worked for me.

By: lfaren

lfaren — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 19:16:58 -0800

Ditto chrismear's solution. Enabling cross-fade and setting the slider to zero results in seamless playback for me.

By: Aquaman

Aquaman — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:11:17 -0800

BTW, Toast will still introduce a tiny, tiny but clearly audible bit of silence between tracks, even in "seamless" mode (zero gap). For true seamless audio cd's, Jam somehow does the trick. Completely gapless playback.

By: anarcation

anarcation — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 00:33:51 -0800

Turning on 'crossfade playback' and setting the overlap time to 0 seconds has always worked for me.

I find that this works for live shows, but not for other things like house mixes, where the slight cutoff is noticeable.

In iTunes you can rip a CD as one complete track, so if you were never going to listen to individual tracks anyways, this might be an option.