Joining mp3s when burning a CD

[David Ayers]

Following up on the topic of customer service... I recently downloaded from Chandos records (a UK classical label). Their customer service in general is famously non-existent, and when I contacted them about my problem they didn't respond, so I thought I'd ask you guys.

I downloaded a classical piece in which the movements are in reality played continuously but are sold as separate mp3s (uhhh - I'll never do this again but I didn't *know* they were played continuously...). WMP plays them continuously but with a hiccup, iTunes joins them properly. But neither will transfer them to CD in a properly joined manner. Nor will Burrn. Do you guys know of any free software that will join such (moronically) split files?

In general, this incident has left me wondering about customer service in relation to mp3 downloads - the structure of it seems a but too much like 'give us your money and shut the **** up'. Maybe that's just Chandos - in their case a pity as I would have liked to buy more from them and now I can't.

[alocispepraluger102]

nero, not free, will record tracks without interruption..

[rockefeller center]

I don't use Windows anymore so I can't verify but this (free of charge) software should be capable of burning gapless audio CDs (see key features): http://cdburnerxp.se/ (make sure you set the 'time between tracks' or whatever the name of that property is to zero before burning)

This program requires the Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework to be installed on your system. If you don't have .NET 2.0 you can download it from Microsoft.

The cdburnerxp installer will let you know if .NET 2.0 is missing on your system.

The fact that you got separate tracks instead of one long track is good because otherwise you wouldn't be able to skip tracks. It's not the music seller's problem that your playback or burning software isn't capable to fulfill your requirements. I don't see a reason why you shouldn't buy from them again.

Edited December 16, 2007 by rockefeller center

[David Ayers]

Thanks guys. I won't go for Nero as I don't want to pay! I don't burn CDs often so its not really warranted.

With WMP you *can't* change the 2 second gap which it automatically sets. With iTunes you *can* change the gap but only for the whole CD, where what I need to do is group certain tracks but not ALL tracks. iTunes can *play* the tracks without a hiccup but can't *burn* them without.

When I did it with Burrn same thing - the gap was reduced to nothing but the hiccup still happened.

I'll try CD burner and see how I get on - thanks for the tip.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

If you want a different result for some of an album from the other parts of it, you look like you need a two stage approach. Burn the bits you want to remove the gap from onto one R/W disc; the rest onto another. Then read the things back into your computer. So the joined tracks shoud appear as one track, the others as separate tracks. So when you do your final burn, you get separation when you want it and joined movements when you want it.

Pain in the arse this way I know, but otherwise, you'll just end up joining everything together.

MG

[David Ayers]

If you want a different result for some of an album from the other parts of it, you look like you need a two stage approach. Burn the bits you want to remove the gap from onto one R/W disc; the rest onto another. Then read the things back into your computer. So the joined tracks shoud appear as one track, the others as separate tracks. So when you do your final burn, you get separation when you want it and joined movements when you want it.

Pain in the arse this way I know, but otherwise, you'll just end up joining everything together.

MG

Genius (-ish). I'll try it.

[rockefeller center]

If you want a different result for some of an album from the other parts of it, you look like you need a two stage approach. Burn the bits you want to remove the gap from onto one R/W disc; the rest onto another. Then read the things back into your computer. So the joined tracks shoud appear as one track, the others as separate tracks. So when you do your final burn, you get separation when you want it and joined movements when you want it.

Pain in the arse this way I know, but otherwise, you'll just end up joining everything together.

MG

Genius (-ish). I'll try it.

Genius? Sorry, I don't think so. Burning gapless doesn't mean that the tracks are actually joined - they're still separate tracks. Burning audio CDs with select tracks gaplessly is a basic task.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

If you want a different result for some of an album from the other parts of it, you look like you need a two stage approach. Burn the bits you want to remove the gap from onto one R/W disc; the rest onto another. Then read the things back into your computer. So the joined tracks shoud appear as one track, the others as separate tracks. So when you do your final burn, you get separation when you want it and joined movements when you want it.

Pain in the arse this way I know, but otherwise, you'll just end up joining everything together.

MG

Genius (-ish). I'll try it.

Genius? Sorry, I don't think so. Burning gapless doesn't mean that the tracks are actually joined - they're still separate tracks. Burning audio CDs with select tracks gaplessly is a basic task.

Oh, if they're not "really" joined, but only sound like it, the only option you've got it to treat the CD with the joined tracks as an analog LP and burn a new CD with it as if it were vinyl. If it sounds like one track and you do an analog burn, then it should come out on the computer as one track.

MG

[Matthew]

Thanks guys. I won't go for Nero as I don't want to pay! I don't burn CDs often so its not really warranted.

With WMP you *can't* change the 2 second gap which it automatically sets. With iTunes you *can* change the gap but only for the whole CD, where what I need to do is group certain tracks but not ALL tracks. iTunes can *play* the tracks without a hiccup but can't *burn* them without.

When I did it with Burrn same thing - the gap was reduced to nothing but the hiccup still happened.

I'll try CD burner and see how I get on - thanks for the tip.

I had the some problem when using WMP to burn my Dead downloads, that two second gap. I use Real Player now for that because you can program out the gap between songs. I would assume it would also work for you case.

Edited December 16, 2007 by Matthew

[rockefeller center]

Oh, if they're not "really" joined, but only sound like it, the only option you've got it to treat the CD with the joined tracks as an analog LP and burn a new CD with it as if it were vinyl. If it sounds like one track and you do an analog burn, then it should come out on the computer as one track.

I don't know why you're trying to make this so difficult. If, for whatever reason, you'd like to join tracks -> join them with an audio editor. But why should one want to lose the convenience of being able to select specific tracks?

In most burning programs the procedure to burn audio tracks without the 2" gap looks like this:

* Import tracks you want to burn

* Highlight tracks you don't want to have 2 sec of silence at beginning

* Right click one of those tracks -> select properties

* Set time between tracks to 0

[Matthew]

Oh, if they're not "really" joined, but only sound like it, the only option you've got it to treat the CD with the joined tracks as an analog LP and burn a new CD with it as if it were vinyl. If it sounds like one track and you do an analog burn, then it should come out on the computer as one track.

I don't know why you're trying to make this so difficult. If, for whatever reason, you'd like to join tracks -> join them with an audio editor. But why should one want to lose the convenience of being able to select specific tracks?

In most burning programs the procedure to burn audio tracks without the 2" gap looks like this:

* Import tracks you want to burn

* Highlight tracks you don't want to have 2 sec of silence at beginning

* Right click one of those tracks -> select properties

* Set time between tracks to 0

So, for WMP, if you go to the "more options" from the burn cd window, then go to "performance" and put zero in the "network buffering," that will take care of the gaps between cuts?

PS: Forgot to mention the right clicky thing didn't do anything for me in WMP.

Edited December 16, 2007 by Matthew

[rockefeller center]

So, for WMP, if you go to the "more options" from the burn cd window, then go to "performance" and put zero in the "network buffering," that will take care of the gaps between cuts?

Network buffering is relevant for playback of audio that is streamed to your computer via network (internet, LAN, etc.) and does have nothing to do with burning CD-Rs.

I was talking about CD burning programs; WMP, as far as I know, is first and foremost a media player with limited burning capabilities (I never used WMP). That's why I posted the link to that free of charge burning software in my first post. Its features suggest that it could be a decent and useful program for Windows users who don't want to buy software.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Easy.

Download the free program Audacity. You can find it at download.com.

Open Audacity and then open all of the files you want to join. Then, it's a simple "cut & paste" to piece all of the parts together into one long file.

Kevin

[rockefeller center]

Easy.

Download the free program Audacity. You can find it at download.com.

Open Audacity and then open all of the files you want to join. Then, it's a simple "cut & paste" to piece all of the parts together into one long file.

Kevin

I don't know why you're trying to make this so difficult. If, for whatever reason, you'd like to join tracks -> join them with an audio editor. But why should one want to lose the convenience of being able to select specific tracks?

Jim A., please rename my handle to Don Quixote.

[rockefeller center]

[Matthew]

So, for WMP, if you go to the "more options" from the burn cd window, then go to "performance" and put zero in the "network buffering," that will take care of the gaps between cuts?

Network buffering is relevant for playback of audio that is streamed to your computer via network (internet, LAN, etc.) and does have nothing to do with burning CD-Rs.

I was talking about CD burning programs; WMP, as far as I know, is first and foremost a media player with limited burning capabilities (I never used WMP). That's why I posted the link to that free of charge burning software in my first post. Its features suggest that it could be a decent and useful program for Windows users who don't want to buy software.

Thanks for clearing that up for me, I'm a total doofus when it comes to this kind of stuff.