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Best way to split 100MB MP3 files

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jonny mac

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Hi all,

I've recently got a few DJ mixes from a friend of a friend. All are in high quality MP3 with nothing below 192 kbps and most at 256/320. BUT, each mix is recorded as one long MP3, most are 70 minutes long. I assume this has been done to preserve gapless from the CD. Anyway, I want to split these MP3s into the individual songs without losing gapless and also to be able to transfer to HiMD at different bitrates, all gaplessly. I also prefer not to transcode too much as this will affect quality.

I was thinking along these lines, please have a read and see if my thinking is flawed. If I import to Sonicstage, convert to PCM and then break up the file will I be able to transfer at different ATRAC bitrates without losing gaples? I don't want to split the file at 256 kbps as then I'll lose gapless for any other bitrate. And I don't want to have to split the file at more than one bitrate because it's a lot of work.

Any ideas?

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Anytime you break the large file into smaller files, regardless of codec/procedure, you're risking screwing up the gapless. First thing I would do is take note of the time index of each track. Then convert the MP3 into 1 big WAV file, and create a CUE sheet (.cue extension) in relation to that WAV file with the time index for track marks. (Sample CUE sheet file: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CueFile.gif). This will retain gapless (as you never break the file in the first place). With Daemon Tools (freeware), you can mount the CUE sheet and windows will think it's an AudioCD. It will have track marks based on the time index you put in the CUE sheet. Now you can run sonicstage and rip the virtual AudioCD to your desired Atrac bitrate. You MUST rip to only 1 bitrate in one go to preserve gapless. Ripping each track individually will break gapless. Ripping in different bitrates will break gapless.

Some old links to discussions about MP3 and gapless:

http://www.audiotstation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21789

http://www.audiotstation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30199

Edited by pata2001
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