Using Labels to cut VERY long files

[OrangecatsRule]

Greetings all,

Just recently downloaded Audacity Stable. I have some audiobook files which I am trying to split into 5min. segments,
but without noticeable gaps between each track during playback.
After reading in the FAQ's about "Creating Labels" and "Gapless burning" I just wondered if this is the
best or only way to do this in Audacity? Probably would use Windows Media Player 11 to burn the new tracks to CD.

Is there a faster way to accomplish this task? Has anyone used the plugin to remove the gaps?
I'm brand new to audio editing so any feedback is much appreciated!

[kozikowski]

Right at the top of the list is don't use MP3 compression anywhere. MP3 was never intended for precision work and it has some significant problems if you try.

Did you try it and did you experience problems? Whichever Music CD Authoring Program you use has to be able to manage the standard between-song two-second gap...down to zero.

With all the tools and sophistication, I still wouldn't put a label in the middle of a spoken word. But maybe that's just me. So you can't automate it. I posted a feature request to be able to jump forward or backward easily from the keypad like you can in video editors. I lost track of where that's going.

You might find much more convenient tools in Audacity 1.3. It's not as unstable any more as the intro suggests. It's one step away from Audacity 1.4, the next stable release.

C. Columbus used Audacity 1.2 on the "Pinta" on his way over from Portugal. There are modern computers out there that no longer run any version of 1.2

Koz

[kozikowski]

<<<Is there a faster way to accomplish this task? Has anyone used the plugin to remove the gaps?>>>

Wait. The gaps?

Oh, you mean the 2-second gaps between songs. The Music CD authoring program has to do that. You can't do it in pre-production. All really good Music CD authoring programs have the ability to manage the gap ... down to zero in your case. Easy, Veritas, Nero, etc. Sometimes it takes the paid version of the program to get all the additional tools.

I know nothing about how Windows Media does it. It's only recently that WM has been able to burn CDs at all. Microsoft considers that stealing.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Oh, one other point. Never use MP3 anywhere in the process. Stick with WAV files and make Windows Media (or iTunes, etc.) do all the heavy lifting. MP3 has problems making precision sound files.

Koz

[OrangecatsRule]

Thanks Koz

For all the helpful tips! My files are in WAV format already so no worries there. In regards to the 2-second delays I had planned just to use WM 11 to burn, since it's already there for me, but the FAQ's article mentions specific problems with WM (9) not being able to handle this. So I may end up using Nero, Veritas or other for that. Thanks again and I hope you get a response to your question about "jumping forwards or backwards with the keypad - like video editors".

Can't wait to work on this tonite!
-OC