[GanChan]

Sorry if this sounds dumb, but I've only used .mp3s via my desktop computer up to this point, and I don't know enough about portable players yet. Anyway, do .mp3 players normally have a "play-through" function that allows you to continuously play through a number of tracks without having to tell it to play each track?

The reason I ask is, I have a lot of CDs in which the music continues seamlessly from one track to the next.

Thanks.

 

[mayapop]

I'm not sure if this answers your question but I have a 3rd gen 10gig ipod. You can play tracks from a playlist, all the tracks from an album, all the tracks from an artist, or all the tracks on the ipod. When it switches to the next track, there's an audible click (not sure if click is the best word). It's really annoying when listening to an album where the tracks blend seamlessly. It sounds like the music skipped. But it does play through, no need to tell it to play the next track.

 

[GanChan]

Quote:

Originally posted by mayapop I'm not sure if this answers your question but I have a 3rd gen 10gig ipod. You can play tracks from a playlist, all the tracks from an album, all the tracks from an artist, or all the tracks on the ipod. When it switches to the next track, there's an audible click (not sure if click is the best word). It's really annoying when listening to an album where the tracks blend seamlessly. It sounds like the music skipped. But it does play through, no need to tell it to play the next track.

I was afraid there'd be something annoying like that. I've thought about maybe recording entire albums, using a recorder/player with line-in, as one huge .mp3 file and not worrying about accessing the individual tracks. But I've never heard of an .mp3 player that can buffer that much material. So is that option out the window, or is there an alternative I'm not aware of?

 

[blessingx]

I'm a little confused if you are asking about playback through an entire album, playlist, etc. or wish to have a gapless playback across songs. If the former yeah. If the latter no. The MP3 format is restricted by this unfortunately (AAC is also, not sure about WMA). Some progs** allow you to rip an album to a single file (which may be what you're saying). May cause buffering issues... or it may not and simply drain the battery at a higher rate (because well the buffer). For instance the iPod has a ~9 meg limit, before it requires more hard disk spinning... so less bat life.

** Since you're on a Mac, this is extremely easy with iTunes and the"Join All Tracks" function. You need an OS that has been released in the last decade though. OS8 doesn't cut it.

 

[austonia]

Hmm, as I recall, when I listed to DJ sets on my NJB3, transition between tracks is nearly gapless. When I had the Odyssey 1000, gaps were more apparent, and it is a little annoying. The new iPods seem to have a problem with transitioning between tracks, but that's the least of its problems. I think it just depends on the player. If you have a specific one in mind you can ask about that before you buy.

 

[blessingx]

Austonia, since it's a limitation of the format, do you think some players have a small crossfade/transition component to get past it? Trying to figure how else to get past a gap that is in the file.

 

[austonia]

Quote:

Originally posted by blessingx Austonia, since it's a limitation of the format, do you think some players have a small crossfade/transition component to get past it? Trying to figure how else to get past a gap that is in the file.

No player offers crossfading as of now. The Rio Karma will offer variable crossfading between all supported formats.

I think some players just start the next track is sequence almost immediately, compared to other players that take a second to start playing the next track.

 

[GanChan]

Well, I can put up with layer changes on DVDs, so maybe the audio gaps won't kill me.

If I were willing to go with an .mp3-CD player instead, I could simply burn the tracks onto the CD with no gaps between them and solve the problem that way. But then I'd only have 700-something MB capacity, unless I wanna carry my CD wallet around, and getting rid of the CD wallet is part of the point.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by mayapop I'm not sure if this answers your question but I have a 3rd gen 10gig ipod. You can play tracks from a playlist, all the tracks from an album, all the tracks from an artist, or all the tracks on the ipod. When it switches to the next track, there's an audible click (not sure if click is the best word).

Have you updated to the latest firmware? I heard people complain about this a while back, but haven't heard such complaints recently. I have the latest firmware and neither my iPod, nor my two friends', have ever experienced this "click."

 

[adhoc]

if you encode your mp3s yourself, lame has an option for 'seamless' encoding of mp3s. this allows you to make seperate mp3s that effectively sound like one entire one - ie no audible clicks pops to alert you that you have changed track.

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally posted by adhoc if you encode your mp3s yourself, lame has an option for 'seamless' encoding of mp3s. this allows you to make seperate mp3s that effectively sound like one entire one - ie no audible clicks pops to alert you that you have changed track.

Could you tell me what the LAME code is for "seamless" because everything I've read says this is impossible with MP3's (LAME or otherwise)?

 

[adhoc]

i use this program to encode my mp3s, winlame. it's basically a gui'ed version of lame that was recommended on the actual lame homepage:

http://winlame.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=archive

if you were to select 'default' in the preset screen while encoding using winlame, it would bring you to an options screen where you can customise almost everything that has to do with mp3 encoding, eg freq cutoff, encoding quality selection etc etc

at one of the screens, near the bottom, there is a checkbox which allows you to select for 'nogap encoding'. hover your cursoe over it to find out more.

god luck.

 

[blessingx]

Thanks adhoc, but fortunately I'm not using Windows. Do you know what the command line is? Haven't heard of a LAME "nogap" option. Have you ever used "--vcomment" to write the command line to the comments field?

EDIT: Just found "--nogap" and "--gapless", though there appears to be some reported problems with them (maybe that's why it's not documented in the normal places).

EDIT2: Doesn't seem to work with 3.92 encoder.