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djsneydal · Dec 30, 2005, 04:31 PM

Hey there,

I have just got an iPod so i am going to have to move over to itunes from media player10, but this is terrible news as far as I am concerned because there is one thing about iTunes that just drives me crazy

- hopefully someone has an answer to it...

On iTunes, when you are going through an album, between each song there is a gap of about 0.5 seconds as it loads. I listen to dance music, and the transition is half the point, therefore it is useless to me having this gap. Don't get me wrong I like iTunes a lot

, i have just never been able to put up the this gap.

Does anyway know how to get rid of this gap? I have tried cross fading, but that is also useless because then you miss a beat in the song, and again the transition is half the point.

If anyone has any ideas please let me know. An added complication, i have a 1g iPod, so i'm using iTunes 4.6, i don't think it likes anything higher. Cheers guys,

David

SpaceMonkey · Dec 30, 2005, 04:40 PM

Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to make iTunes play back gaplessly. The closest thing you can do is set the crossfader to 0 seconds, which you say you have already tried.

djsneydal · Dec 30, 2005, 05:06 PM

oh dear, sad sad news. Well that and the whole no right click thing, Apple still seem to need to go a little further for fussy people like me. Thanks for your help.

PurpleGiant · Dec 30, 2005, 05:27 PM

No right click? What?

fisherKing · Dec 30, 2005, 05:33 PM

you can right-click, of course, in osx.

meanwhile...
you could visit versiontracker.com and look for an audio app, to join mp3s together and make your own continuous mixes..

djsneydal · Dec 30, 2005, 06:43 PM

Thanks for the tip. seems like a lot of effort tho, but i'll give it a go on an album or two. Another question while ur all here (kinda), a lot of my songs are in .wmv, when itunes converts them to mp3 or aac, are the songs duplicated?

Also is it worth going aac rather than mp3, considering all the hasstle it may cause with compatability with other 'things' in the future?

I ask only because I don't have enough hard drive space to duplicate my songs, so i'll have to do it in bits. Regards,

David

threestain · Dec 30, 2005, 07:23 PM

the songs will be duplicated (I think). in my experience wmv files suck, but that's just me.

mp3s etc will never be truly gapless (to do with the encoding of the files - someone else can give more info I'm sure!), so the best way would be to do it as one long track I reckon.

Dork. · Dec 30, 2005, 07:25 PM

Ugh. This has been a pet peeve of mine since when iTunes first came out, before the iPod existed. I listen to a lot of live albums, soundracks, classical music, and even dippy Prog Rock concept albums that all have tracks that run into each other. Now, iTunes has a little "blip" between these tracks -- still audible if you listen hard enough, but it doesn't really break the tempo, so it's bearable. This only applies to AAC files that iTunes creates, though -- MP3 files ripped using other software doesn't play as nicely.
But my 1G iPod can't play these tracks without a pause. And, apparently, even the newset iPods have the same flaw. You'd think Apple would have fixed this in the three or four years that iTunes and the iPod have been out, but oh well. (Do a search for "iTunes Gap" and you'll find posts by myself and my evil twin brother, dreilly1, going on and on about this in excessive detail.

The only solution for you is, when you rip your CD's in iTunes, select all the tracks and pick "Join CD tracks" under the "Advanced" menu. This will rip the entire CD in one fell swoop, as one track. It gets rid of the gaps all right, but now you can't pick a song in the middle of the mega-track. When I first tried this years ago, playing the mega-track caused the HD in the 1G iPod to spin up all the time, depleting the battery quickly. Of course, now the 1G battery won't last more than an hour no matter what, so it's usually plugged in when I use it.

I'm going to try this again this weekend if I have time....

SpaceMonkey · Dec 30, 2005, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by djsneydal

Also is it worth going aac rather than mp3, considering all the hasstle it may cause with compatability with other 'things' in the future?

If you have to use iTunes to convert Windows Media files to AAC or MP3, then you should pick AAC. iTunes' MP3 encoder is pretty old, and doesn't perform well next to AAC, whereas iTunes' AAC encoder is one of the best available. If you are able to convert your Windows Media files to MP3 using the LAME encoder, then I personally would go with MP3 for compatibility reasons, because most tests have indicated that recent versions of the LAME encoder remain competitive with AAC even down to 128 kbps. If you use higher bitrates, or the LAME VBR presets, then it should be impossible to tell the difference between MP3 and AAC.

djsneydal · Dec 31, 2005, 03:17 AM

THanks for your help everyone..

lol, Dork i'm glad to know i'm not the only one how has this little pet hate. To be honest I might just end up aac-ing all my files, and keeping the trance ones as .wmv to play in media player 10 as well, so that I can keep them skippless.

Lew · Dec 31, 2005, 06:55 AM

You could always use the trick described here. It's a little long-winded compared to just ripping in iTunes but it leaves you with a single file that has chapter points for individual songs (you're basically turning your ripped track into an audiobook).

Dork. · Dec 31, 2005, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by Lew

You could always use the trick described here. It's a little long-winded compared to just ripping in iTunes but it leaves you with a single file that has chapter points for individual songs (you're basically turning your ripped track into an audiobook).

Sweet! Thank you!

djsneydal · Dec 31, 2005, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by Lew

You could always use the trick described here. It's a little long-winded compared to just ripping in iTunes but it leaves you with a single file that has chapter points for individual songs (you're basically turning your ripped track into an audiobook).

Well spotted, BUT I have a first generation ipod so i'll ahve to use 4.6 itunes, not 4.9 in the instructions

, do u think it will still work? I am also a windows user if that adds any complications. Regards, David

Dork. · Dec 31, 2005, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by djsneydal

Well spotted, BUT I have a first generation ipod so i'll ahve to use 4.6 itunes, not 4.9 in the instructions

, do u think it will still work? I am also a windows user if that adds any complications. Regards, David

Why does having a 1st-gen iPod matter? I've been using the latest version with my 1G iPod with no problems.
(I'm on a Mac, though.)

The chapter trick may not work properly on the 1G, but you'll at least be able to put the mega-track on the iPod using any version of iTunes.

That page lists all Mac apps, but I'm sure you can find Windows apps that do the same thing if you look hard enough.

djsneydal · Dec 31, 2005, 07:11 PM

Originally Posted by Dork.

Why does having a 1st-gen iPod matter? I've been using the latest version with my 1G iPod with no problems.
(I'm on a Mac, though.)

The chapter trick may not work properly on the 1G, but you'll at least be able to put the mega-track on the iPod using any version of iTunes.

That page lists all Mac apps, but I'm sure you can find Windows apps that do the same thing if you look hard enough.

Well I haven't used the iPod yet, as I return from holiday on thursday, and it will hopefully be there waiting for me. I read on some apple site that it'll only take 4.6, but i guess i can investigate when i get it, same with the track listings and everything.

This is me, the yellow guy, poking and testing iTunes, the blue guy.