[matheis]

hello all!!!

i'm looking for a free/shareware mp3 stitcher for windows so i can have gapless playback. i've searched the web and only come up with mp3 stitcher for mac. any can send me a link, i'd appreciate it!!!

thanks
nikolaus

 

[ProFingerSk8er]

mm...what exactly does mp3 stitcher do?
mp3 can not be gapless, the only lossy compressed format that can be gapless is OGG

 

[blessingx]

MP3 can be gapless, by it's rare as it needs to be supported by LAME tags. Very little supports this so in practice it is a limitation of the format.

WMA and MPC can also be gapless. We need to be careful with all the inaccurate Ogg claims. Not picking on you ProFingerSk8er. Many here are a tad unrealistic about the format (best sounding, wide portable support, etc.). It's a good format, just doesn't win in all cases.

A stitcher combines files which among other uses makes a single track to eliminated the gaps multiple tracks allow.

Also keep in mind iTunes allows you to group to encode as a single track. Lots of other programs allow this too.

MP3 Stitcher is of limited use even on the Mac as it requires the same bitrate with all files. VBR is not supported. I've talked to the creator about this and although it seemed an interest initially (I sent him/her a bunch of test files) I haven't heard anything lately.

For PC do a search on MP3 join, MP3 joining, or MP3 merging. There's more PC progs for this than Mac. I'm on OSX so I don't have any experience with the Windows apps. Maybe this.

 

[JiPi]

I used MP3Cutter for joining/splitting mp3 files on Windows.

But uh, I suggest just ripping your files as one (mp3 + cue) with EAC first, so you don't have
some 'stitching' to do afterwards.

 

[ProFingerSk8er]

blessingx, i understand OGG is not the best format, i personally think ACC sounds better then OGG, but since we'r talking about gapless here, itz a known fact taht OGG can be gapless.

and also thanks about the info on MP3, never heard anything/experience myself that MP3 can be gapless also (but im guessing there are some extra settings?)

 

[Lisa]

Making one big file from your mp3's can be done with WinZip. But I forgot how.

I'll try to remember, but I suggest you do a google search.

-edit-
I remember. Add the files to winzip without compression and rename the zip file back to .mp3
Don't know for sure if it will be gapless.

 

[matheis]

i'm ripping (paranoid mode) and encode (--apfs) with cdex, as i've found eac to be fairly tempermental (ie, not ripping alot of cds that cdex doesn't have a problem with). i'm not sure how to rip/encode the tracks i want to be gapless so they're one track, as opposed to them getting split up according to the cd's track marks. any pointers on how to do this with cdex? i agree that i'd much not rather not have to use an mp3 joiner but don't know the "trick" to getting separate tracks ripped/encoded as one yet. any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
later
nikolaus

 

[blessingx]

ProFingerSk8eR, it was the "only" tag I was remarking on.

Matheis, I'm sure there's a better/more streamlined way, but if you've downloaded iTunes, use "join tracks" (under advanced) and rip to a single WAV (using error correction), then encode with whatever program you want.

 

[matheis]

blessing x
haven't downloaded iTunes. not being an ipod user, i never thought of it. in fact, i thought iTunes was just the apple music store. i didn't know it had ripping capabilities, as well. i'll give it a try unless someone can direct me how to accomplish the same job (namely, ripping separate tracks as one large track) with cdex.
thanks!
nikolaus

 

[blessingx]

Yeah ripping and encoding. For MP3 it's a modified FhG encoder, not LAME (good AAC encoder though). On the OSX side there's a LAME-iTunes plugin/app, but none I know of on the Windows side yet. Likely soon.