I'm a Mac user and haven't often used WMP for PC to burn audio CDs, so I've got a question for those who have. Does WMP burn WMA files with absolutely no gaps between tracks, so that if you were to purchase, say, ONA Live from the club, you could actually burn discs that sound seamless and don't have a tiny millisecond pause between them? I've got ONA Live already, but I'm thinking about other live, tracked downloads that *might* be offered in the future at the club.

The tiny millisecond pause is a problem with every mp3 or aac file I've burned using other software (even with gaps between tracks set at "none"), but I was wondering if perhaps WMA files work differently. If not, the whole essence of a tracked live album download from the club seems a little goofy to me.

Doozer said:

Let's get this straight : WMP is CRAP as far as it concerns ur question, cuz as far as i've been able 2 find out it CAN'T burn without 2 seconds gaps between tracks !!! 2 b able 2 burn "C-Note", "TCI" & "Slaughterhouse" without them i've had 2 burn them once with WMP, then rip them as wav files 2 keep the sound quality, then burn'em again with Nero on another CD (!!!).

As far as i know Nero also keeps a millisecond gap (but u have 2 b listening closely 2 hear it), & if someone here was able 2 give me the name of a burning-rom software that leaves NO GAP at all, i'd b another extremely grateful burner ...
[Edited 3/28/05 11:47am]

The Roxio Easy CD Creator 6 will burn with absolutely NO GAPS at all. It takes more than a simple 'check the no gaps box' to perform, however. Also it may be the case that the free version of Windows Media Player does not perform this gapless action but the full purchased version might.

As said above, Roxio will make it gapless if properly checked. Also Discribe will work well. SoundJam for Mac is a great tool for getting rid of gaps in an .aiff file once converted from WMA.

Thanks everyone -- sure sounds like the avergage Joe who wants to buy the ONA Live album at the club won't be too happy when they burn the songs to CD using WMP and find annoying gaps between each track. Nearly everyone who buys music at the club, I would wager, don't have the knowledge, time or inclination to jump through any hoops to eliminate gaps.

Doozer said:

Doooooz

TheRealFiness said:

Bruthhhhhaaaaa

squirrelgrease said:

Thanx, but... what do u mean by "properly checked" ?

shaomi said:

Sorry. Check the appropriate box when setting up the CD to be burned.

squirrelgrease said:

Yes - it's a feature called 'transitions' and you have many different choices aside from no gaps including fade outs and fade ins and cross-fades between tracks.

Jestyr said:

I third and fourth that!! I love ROXIO. I mix house music and there are no gaps between and still be able to show tracks.

Nero burns perfectly gap free discs no problem-I use it all the time to burn concerts. However, afaik Nero can't handle the DRM files from the club. Using WMP you have to have the Roxio burning application installed, which only burns at 1X speed and automatically inserts the gaps. If you upgrade (read "buy") the full/pro version of the plug-in it burns at a faster speed and will remove the gaps.

gsh said:

Actually I was surprised to find out that the recently upgraded files for the C-NOTE collection were burnable through the trial version of Nero 6. No gaps. The only problem with the trail version of Nero is I couldn't find a way to do the complicated transitions that Roxio is capable of. It will do fade outs and a version of cross fading but not both at the same time.

gsh said:

We must have different versions of Nero, or there's an option that i haven't found, cuz with mind there IS a milisecond gap (actually it's more a milisecond "krsh" than a milisecond "gap", but it DOES happen).

Strangely enough I was trying to burn the 1995 Live tracks yesterday with WMP - I must have upgraded it since the last time I burnt tracks as the Roxio burning app is now no longer included! Did a little checking and seems that it is now only available for a fee!? On my (other) pc running XP there is a copy/burning app in WMP, but I get an error message saying unable to burn, even though the licenses were acquired. However, just for giggles I tried using Nero Suite1 OEM v6 (all latest patches and updates) and the tracks burned fine with no gaps. Rather slower than the indicated 16x, but I assume that was down to the conversion process.
As to the crossfade biz, I don't use Nero for audio editing so don't know it's limitations. In fact, powerful as Nero is I generally run Express rather than the full bells and whistles version, and just ticking the box for no gaps between the tracks results in a seemless burn. If you are experiencing gaps/clicks, maybe it's your player?