How does this work once you've tagged the individual files? You wouldn't be joining back the same files that you'd split?
Yes, i am joining the same files that i split ( just as a test to show i can recover the original)
I've always avoided letting MC anywhere near any large mp3/cue files as I've been afraid that MC's tagging changes the file. Even without deliberately tagging a file, just by playing it in MC it alters the tags.
it does change the file in the sense tagging is done, so fields are written/modified etc. But the audio content is not affected. The wav compares and you can try this yourself to show audio content remains the same. SFVs..will show a difference cos SFV is sensitive to any file change, including tagging.
Doesn't tagging the file effect re-joining the file, gapless playback and burning the file to CD using the cue file?
Do the tags, especially ID3 2 tags, not affect gapless playback
Tagging wont effect audio nor the rejoining of the files, musicutter does the joining properly (as does MC the tagging). So you get back bit for bit when you re-join the split files.
However, I can still hear the track transition.
I tried playing around with the settings but nothing seemed to make any difference. It would also take quite abit of time to convert all the files (I didn't see a batch mode).
This got me thinking about doing a wav compare of the split tracks vs the original using MC's diskwriter. This would truly be the acid test for whether the split tracks could replace the big track from an audio point of view.
To do this
- i set Tools->options->Playback->Output (Diskwriter)...click settings( Break output into ind.tracks is unchecked)........and played the original...it creates a big wav file.
- i loaded the split tracks for the corresponding album and played them too( Gapless play set in Tools->Options->Playback) with the same diskwriter settings. Another big wav file.
i made sure all dsp settings were off and silence trimming was unchecked.
The result i found was there were several differences along the track boundaries between the original & split. Mc's gapless play is not perfect and i dont think its reasonable to expect it to be for mp3s.
It dawned on me that my experiment proved the foll:
- musicutter can split and join files flawlessly.
- gapless play is not perfect ( but pretty good ) as indicated by the below thread
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=11040;start=msg69799#msg69799so even if the tracks are split with musicutter, there is a chance that track transitions might be heard. Which then boils down to the album , on some albums transitions might be more pronounced than others.
Now i realise there are exotic mp3 encoders with exotic settings that can create mp3s which play gapless....but if one already has a big mp3 that was encoded wihout those settings which is most likely, nothing can be done.
*EDIT*
However, i think splitting can be done on an album by album basis and can be combined back in the future, if desired. I need to rate the mixed stuff anyway. Some albums will be fine others not and will remain as big mp3s.
Its not known how long JRiver will take to implement CUE/APL functionality.
i guess the final decison on whether to split or not rests on whether JRiver can give us an answer as to whether this CUE/APL will be present in v10 ( from the start or added on later) and what its limitations will be ( if any ? )
Well JRiver....what do u have to say about that ?