No Gap CD Burning
May 31, 2009 3:35 PM   Subscribe

Can you recommend a program that will burn audio CDs with absolutely no gaps between tracks for mixes? Both iTunes and Nero have an option to remove gaps, but there is still an audible gap.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium to Computers & Internet (9 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I had this problem when I ripped Pink Floyd's The Wall to my iPod. The resulting fraction-of-a-second blip between the tracks was unbearable. I wound up using Wiretap (which I bought back when it was cheap) to record each CD as a single track. (Audicity (free) might do the same thing; I haven't tried it.) I could use MP3 Trimmer (free) to split it up, but I don't need to.
posted by neuron at 3:43 PM on May 31, 2009


Have you tried EAC yet?
posted by Dmenet at 3:44 PM on May 31, 2009 [1 favorite]


I use Burrrn and I've never had any trouble with gaps. It also accepts most lossy and lossless codecs.
The program itself is from 2005 so the decoders it comes with are a little outdated; however, all you have to do is go to the installation directory (C:/Program Files/Burrrn) and drop the most recent version of decoder you're interested there (e.g. oggdec.exe for Vorbis files or wvunpack.exe for WavPack files). But you probably won't even have to worry about that.
posted by Bangaioh at 4:00 PM on May 31, 2009


Just make sure each of the source files you're burning do not have silence at the end (or beginning) of the tracks.
If they do, you will always hear a gap no matter what burning app you use, you'd need to remove the gap in an audio editor beforehand.
posted by Bangaioh at 4:24 PM on May 31, 2009


Yeah, there's a few reasons for this. Certain codecs (including some .mp3 implementations) pad audio files with silence to fill the final block. CD audio is stored in frames, 75/second - edits between songs must be on frame boundaries else you get gaps or glitches; again, certain rippers pad or overlap (EAC can sometimes to do this at certain settings) blocks to 'handle' (quotes to indicate 'poorly') this. Track-at-once recording can cause problems on certain players as the laser scans over the inter-track gap.

The only way I've found to be 100% sure is to edit files together (using Cool Edit Pro, Adobe Audition, etc) into 1 big recording taking care to trim the gaps/overlaps, edit it back into individual files taking care to cut only between samples & on frame boundaries, then burn to CD using disc-at-once.
posted by Pinback at 4:43 PM on May 31, 2009


Second Burrrn. If you're still getting gaps, the culprit is your MP3s and not the burning program.
posted by neckro23 at 5:21 PM on May 31, 2009


I've been able to burn completely gap-free CDs with iTunes, so I'd check your .mp3s.
posted by reductiondesign at 7:02 PM on May 31, 2009


Roxio's Toast will burn true gapless CDs.
posted by Aquaman at 8:14 PM on May 31, 2009


Response by poster: Good info all around. Thanks, everyone!
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:06 PM on May 31, 2009


« Older Used books in central NY state?   |   Why do minor chords sound cold? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.