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[Von]

I always rip a CD to separate files, as opposed to a single file plus cue. However, the other day I was fooling around with my settings, and I started thinking about cue sheets. Two questions:

1. Is there any point in having a cue sheet when I am dealing with multiple files? "Point" as in "will it make it possible to burn more accurate copies of the original CD".

2. Is there a way to create a cue sheet from a CD without ripping it at the same time?

Thanks.

[Alex B]

1. Practically no. In theory a cue sheet can include also additional indexes if the original CD contains them, but they are not commonly used. Software players do not support additional indexes and they are rarely used when Audio CDs are played on regular CD Players.

If you are worried about preserving gapless playback, by default MC will burn an Audio CD with the original track starting points and durations (i.e. the result will be gapless if the source file format is gapless).

2. Not with MC. You can insert a disc and create a cue sheet with EAC without starting the ripping process.

[Von]

Thank you, Alex.

My main concern is with track changes on live recordings. Between song banter, for instance. Will MC by default have track changes at the same place as the cd? (From what i remember from EAC, there were options to append gaps to previous or next song.) I usually prefer to have them appended to the previous song, but I would want a burnt copy to behave like the original.

Must admit I haven't tested.

Edit: Spelling.

[Alex B]

"Append gap to previous track" is the correct way to rip tracks. An Audio CD has only a single continuous physical audio track. The individual logical tracks (aka "songs") are just indexes in a TOC. A CD player creates the individual logical tracks (songs) by interpreting the TOC data. A so galled gap is just the passage from a possibly existing INDEX 00 marker to the following INDEX 01 marker. When a gap is appended to the previous logical track, the INDEX 00 marker is ignored. Any decent ripper, including MC, rips the individual logical tacks from the INDEX 01 marker to the next INDEX 01 marker and ignores the INDEX 00 markers.



In the above picture the first line represents a CD that has four tracks.
The second line represents an otherwise identical CD, except that it has also INDEX 00 markers in its TOC.

A passage from an INDEX 00 marker to the following INDEX 01 marker can be silent or it can contain audio. A CD can have audibly silent "gaps" between the tracks without having any INDEX 00 markers. On the other hand a CD may contain a continuous mix and despite that have INDEX 00 markers. Technically the audio content on an Audio CD is completely separate from the TOC.

[Von]

So when MC creates a cue sheet, does it include INDEX 00?

[Alex B]

MC includes only the INDEX 01 markers in the cue sheet  It is a simple CUE sheet that creates just the same tracks that MC would rip to separate tracks files.

If your ripped track files are in a lossless or gapless lossy format, MC can burn the tracks back to an Audio CD without adding any silent gaps.

[Von]

OK, thanks.