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[Apmaher]

I'm using the latest MC11.  This is my 4th license download in the past 4 or 5 weeks.  Gapless playback appears to work for a week or so with no problems  and then out of the clear blue it no longer works.  All playback now has a 1 second gap between songs.  This is very annoying on live recordings.  Currently I have everything ripped using .ape (normal).  Has anyone else experiencing this problem?  Is there a fix?

Regards
Alan Maher

[JimH]

Please copy your system info from MC Help and paste it here.

[Apmaher]

Media Center Registered 11.0.316 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 11\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
AMD Unknown 2170 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1571 MB, Free - 1005 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2900.2180 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82.2900 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.0.2900 / Shell32.dll: 6.0.2900 / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping /   Drive F: PLEXTOR DVDR   PX-712A    Mode:Normal  Type:Auto  Speed:1
  Digital playback: Yes /  Use YADB: Yes /  Get cover art: No /  Calc replay gain: Yes /  Copy volume: 32767
  Eject after ripping: Yes /  Play sound after ripping: No 

Burning /  Drive F: PLEXTOR  DVDR   PX-712A     Addr: 0:0:0  Speed:1  MaxSpeed:48  BurnProof:Yes
  Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: Yes
  Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[JimH]

The license restore problem is different from the playback settings problem, but they could be related.

Why are you having to restore your license again?  What happens that makes you do that?

[Apmaher]

I have to re-download MC11 every time gapless playback fails in order to get it working again.

[JimH]

That's not necessary.  Something else is happening.  Gapless playback works in the trial and in the full version.  If the license was somehow getting lost, you wouldn't be able to use the program at all.

It's as if the registry settings are getting lost.

What happens if, once you have the problem, you try to modify your playback options?

[JimH]

I have to re-download MC11 every time gapless playback fails in order to get it working again.

Do you mean restore the license?  Or re-install MC?  Downloading MC again would have no effect -- you could just re-install from your original download.

[Apmaher]

I'm currently playing around with the settings.  I normally use ASIO set for 24/96 using the DSP.  I tried Wave Out and Direct Sound, altering the DSP setting to 16/44.1, and changing the playback from gapless to standard (.1s).  Wave Out and Direct Sound did nothing to prevent the gap.  The same goes for the DSP setting.  The gap during gapless playback appears to sound the same as the Standard .1s setting.    I changed the Standard gap setting to 10s and that appeared to work fine.

[Apmaher]

I just downloaded MC11 again and that did not fix the problem.  Do you think I should do a fresh install again?

[JimH]

Not all file types will play gapless perfectly.  MP3 files, for example.

What file types are you playing?

Try ripping a CD to APE.  Does that work?

[Apmaher]

All of my files are ripped using .ape (normal).

[JimH]

Ape will play gapless.

Is it possible that a virus checker or similar program is causing a delay?

There are some strange problems created by some of the new software being used on Windows.

[Apmaher]

I checked....all my virus protection software (Norton 2006) is working fine.  I downloaded Foobar 2000 to see what would happen playing back the .ape file.  Foobar had the same gap problem when set to gapless.  I think maybe the .ape files are corupt.  I also ripped a cd using WMP10 (WMA lossless).  MC11 had gap problems and WMP10 played gapless.

[JimH]

The virus software may be working fine but could be introducing the delay.

It's probably something like that.

You could right click on a file, and open it in Media Editor to see if it has silence at the beginning or end.

Another test would be trying to duplicate it on another PC.

[Apmaher]

I was up last night until 3:30 tring to figure out what could be causing the problem.  Around 11:30 I decided to downloaded a fresh copy of MC11 again.  I ripped a cd (.ape) using EAC and MC11.  The MC11 copy played fine for the first few times, but around the 10th playback it could no longer playback gapless.  The imported EAC version suffered the same problem.  I tried the 11th playback using foobar2000 and had the same problem.  Next, I ripped a cd using WMA Lossless in MC11 and WMP10.  The MC11 version crashed randomly with a Buffer Run Error during playback.  The WMP10 imported version played fine with no gaps.  For this test I set the output to DirectSound and source bitdepth.

I also ran the same test using my soundcards (Digital Audio Labs CardDeluxe) latest ASIO drivers.  Changing the bitdepth to 24/96 offered the best sound quality for .ape playback, but the MC11 and EAC rip sufferered from gaps between the tracks.  MC11 continued to crash with it's own rip of WMA Lossless, but the WMP10 version continued to play fine.   Wave Out also repeated the same results.

Any ideas?

[Matt]

Check the trim silence option in playback options.

[Alex B]

The MC11 copy played fine for the first few times, but around the 10th playback it could no longer playback gapless. The imported EAC version suffered the same problem. I tried the 11th playback using foobar2000 and had the same problem. Next, I ripped a cd using WMA Lossless in MC11 and WMP10. The MC11 version crashed randomly with a Buffer Run Error during playback. The WMP10 imported version played fine with no gaps. For this test I set the output to DirectSound and source bitdepth.

I also ran the same test using my soundcards (Digital Audio Labs CardDeluxe) latest ASIO drivers. Changing the bitdepth to 24/96 offered the best sound quality for .ape playback, but the MC11 and EAC rip sufferered from gaps between the tracks. MC11 continued to crash with it's own rip of WMA Lossless, but the WMP10 version continued to play fine. Wave Out also repeated the same results.

Something strange must be going on your system. These kind of problems are usually constant. They don't come and go.

On my system the plain Gapless option is enough for perfectly gapless playback with Monkey's Audio, Wave, FLAC, Musepack and Vorbis files. MP3 needs the trim silence option for mimicking true gapless playback because the format is not gapless by design. I haven't tried WMA.

With my Terratec DMX 6fire 24/96 soundcard all output modes play gaplessly (ASIO/Wave Out/Direct Sound) and I have not experienced crashes.

MC 11.0.136