# "Skips" in my MP3 download **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skips-in-my-mp3-download/530588 "2010-02-27T01:01:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skips-in-my-mp3-download/530588/1 "2010-02-27T01:01:08Z")
So, I’ve downloaded a handful of albums from Amazon, all at different times and using two different internet connections (i.e. at home and at school), but they all have these skips, like a fraction of a second of silence before resuming. As far as I can tell, there’s nothing missing. In other words, the music stops then restarts from the same place rather than the moment of silence being over top of the music. I’m assuming that my playback equipment is the problem. I have my laptop hooked to the stereo. The CD player on the stereo will also do the skip thing sometimes, but again it seems to be a stop-and-start issue rather than a scratch on the CD or something. Any thoughts on this? Do I just need a new stereo? Can I burn a CD of these downloads and play them in the car with no skips? Etc? ---
**Author:** ![sharding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90db22/32.png) [@sharding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sharding)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skips-in-my-mp3-download/530588/2 "2010-02-27T01:47:43Z")
Maybe your computer isn’t fast enough to play them back smoothly, or has too many other things running? I have over 1500 mp3s from Amazon and have never had that problem. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skips-in-my-mp3-download/530588/3 "2010-02-27T02:04:32Z")
Maybe it is the computer’s speed. I’m sure it’s at my end somewhere and not an Amazon thing, unless my computer does some kind of hiccup during downloading. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skips-in-my-mp3-download/530588/4 "2010-02-27T02:10:42Z")
## You may be getting short on memory during replay\*. That’ll make for skips that change position within a track as you play a track again and again. If the dead spots are always in the same place, get an audio editor, like Audacity, to check the files, and clip out the silences, as needed. \*A 10 millisecond pause while memory is paged to your HD is noticeable in music playback. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skips-in-my-mp3-download/530588/5 "2010-02-27T02:25:10Z")
Thanks, that sounds reasonable. I did look at one song (at random) in Audacity and it was fine. I’ll try to take note of the next time it happens so I can look at that specific song. So just to verify, I can burn CDs without fear because I’m not playing it back, just transferring data? Or, if it skips, the burning will pause at the same time? Or something? I’m so non-technical. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skips-in-my-mp3-download/530588/6 "2010-02-27T02:28:31Z")
It’ll be fine to burn CDs so long as the write buffer doesn’t empty, which may require burning at a lower rate if it happens at max speed. Random: is your laptop plugged in when this happens or operating in power-saving mode anyway? ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skips-in-my-mp3-download/530588/7 "2010-02-27T02:37:14Z")
Yep, it’s plugged in, it’s in high performance mode. So I should burn at a slower speed? ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skips-in-my-mp3-download/530588/8 "2010-02-27T02:55:33Z")
Only if it fails at normal (maximum) speed. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skips-in-my-mp3-download/530588/9 "2010-02-27T03:58:30Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > Only if it fails at normal (maximum) speed. If your burner has the capability, go through a test burn first, so you won’t waste a CD. But if not, you’re out, what, 50 cents at most?