# Gapless songs on iPod **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978 "2008-04-04T20:20:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/1 "2008-04-04T20:20:53Z")
I have a 30GB iPod v 1.3 Model MA002LL (I don’t know what generation that makes this).I always use the shuffle song feature when listening to music but there are some songs that I want to play one right after the other. For example: We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions - Queen This Beat Goes On/Switching to Glide - The Kings You Never Give Me Your Money/Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came in through the Bathroom Window – The Beatles (Side 2 of “Abbey Road”) Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/End – The Beatles (Side 2 of “Abbey Road”) Most of Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd. The problem is that choosing gapless doesn’t do me any good when I use shuffle. My only choice seems to be to turn off shuffle. Is there a way to link songs together so they will always be played one after the other? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/2 "2008-04-04T20:26:18Z")
Not that I know of. You can always combine them into a single song in iMovie or any other sound editor. ---
**Author:** ![Lambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lambo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/3 "2008-04-04T20:44:55Z")
Assuming you ripped these off of a CD, you would need to re-rip them in iTunes, this time using the “Join CD Tracks” option under the Advanced menu. This will turn the selected songs into one file. ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/4 "2008-04-04T20:52:27Z")
[QUOTE=Lambo] Assuming you ripped these off of a CD, you would need to re-rip them in iTunes, this time using the “Join CD Tracks” option under the Advanced menu. This will turn the selected songs into one file. [/QUOTE] Most of them I had ripped from CDs that I had borrowed (oh the shame. The RIAA will accuse me of stealing the music) but some I had bought from iTunes. Does that mean I have to burn them to a CD and rip them back in as joined tracks? What a crock. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/5 "2008-04-04T21:02:21Z")
There are plenty of shareware and freeware apps that can edit WAV and MP3 files, including cropping and sewing them. I’ve done a couple of “sew jobs” like you describe, to keep instrumental intros and whatnot with the song they go with on the album. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/6 "2008-04-05T00:51:15Z")
Hm, that’s an iPod video - it _ought_ to play gapless, I’d think… Is the iPod software up to date? ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/7 "2008-04-05T02:41:14Z")
[QUOTE=drewbert] Hm, that’s an iPod video - it _ought_ to play gapless, I’d think… Is the iPod software up to date? [/QUOTE] Yes it is. [QUOTE=robardin] There are plenty of shareware and freeware apps that can edit WAV and MP3 files, including cropping and sewing them. I’ve done a couple of “sew jobs” like you describe, to keep instrumental intros and whatnot with the song they go with on the album. [/QUOTE] Cool. Can you give me any examples? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/8 "2008-04-05T03:36:10Z")
[QUOTE=Slypork] Most of them I had ripped from CDs that I had borrowed (oh the shame. The RIAA will accuse me of stealing the music) but some I had bought from iTunes. Does that mean I have to burn them to a CD and rip them back in as joined tracks? What a crock. [/QUOTE] That’s exactly what I do, except I actually bought all my CDs. Which part do you consider a crock? ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/9 "2008-04-05T05:41:15Z")
OK, your iPod is [exactly the same as mine](http://support.apple.com/specs/ipod/iPod_with_video_30_60_GB.html#top) except a different color, and mine plays without gaps. Apple’s [support page on gapless playback](http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304362) has this somewhat cryptic advice: > [@](#): > > Gapless Playback on iPod > iPod does not support crossfade playback and only some iPod models support gapless playback. For those models that do, all files that support gapless playback are played gaplessly whether or not the “Part of a gapless album” option is checked. So does that mean certain formats play with gaps and some don’t? Have you tried importing as Apple Lossless or AAC instead of MP3? ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/10 "2008-04-05T05:51:23Z")
I realize now I totally misread the OP. :smack: Yeah, if you want to shuffle songs but always have a certain song immediately follow another one, the two have to be encoded as one file. ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/11 "2008-04-06T19:19:49Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] That’s exactly what I do, except I actually bought all my CDs. Which part do you consider a crock? [/QUOTE] I think it’s a crock that I have bought or ripped songs into my PC and now have to burn them to a CD so I can rip them back into my PC just so I can have two (or more) songs play continuously. Apple should update their software to allow this functionality. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gapless-songs-on-ipod/443978/12 "2008-04-06T19:28:02Z")
Audacity. That’s a free audio editing software that you can use to join two tracks into one. It’s simple enough to use, but I’d be happy to provide more help if needed.