What is "Gapless Playback"?

[Odyssey]

What's gapless playback?

[CrowdAds]

[[steve]]

It's when the player doesn't pause when a song changes... so if you were trying to listen to a song that fades into another song (like a live concert recording), without gapless, and each song was separate mp3s, then you would hear a gap inbetween the songs.

[Odyssey]

ok thnx

[Yoshi1984]

Is it possible for the P3 to do that?

[electron]

gapless playback means there is no "gap" between the songs. it seems like one, never ending, never stopping list.

sadly, no, the Samsung players of today do not support this.

[triarii117]

An example of an album that would need gapless playback is Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Every song is interlinked and it makes more sense to listen to it like that. Sadly, not too many Mp3 players support this and the P3 is not one of them.

[h1a8]

I don't know what Samsung is waiting for. Without gapless the S9 will always be better.

[electron]

Originally Posted by h1a8

I don't know what Samsung is waiting for. Without gapless the S9 will always be better.

no, all that means is that the S9 will be better for people who want gapless. the P3 is a fine player, and can hold its own against the S9. its just better at things that the S9 are not as good at and vice versa.

[Odyssey]

I agree with electron...to me P3 and S9 are practically the same when it comes to which one is better, the P3 has its strengths and weaknesses and so does the S9, kinda kool how the P3 ranked 2nd in the "5 best players of 2009" review and beat the S9

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by electron

no, all that means is that the S9 will be better for people who want gapless. the P3 is a fine player, and can hold its own against the S9. its just better at things that the S9 are not as good at and vice versa.

A big +1.....gapless is not a dealbreaker for a lot of people. From all I've read about the P3 and the S9, I would prefer the P3.....the only thing that would make me think the choice over would be the Cowon's greater battery life.

[Odyssey]

What got me was the bluetooth,speaker, and better price

[musichound]

Originally Posted by electron

gapless playback means there is no "gap" between the songs. it seems like one, never ending, never stopping list.

sadly, no, the Samsung players of today do not support this.

Originally Posted by [steve]

It's when the player doesn't pause when a song changes... so if you were trying to listen to a song that fades into another song (like a live concert recording), without gapless, and each song was separate mp3s, then you would hear a gap inbetween the songs.

These definitions are only partially correct, but Steve's definition is the closest.
The best way I can describe gapless playback is when music is played back exactly the way the artist intended. In other words, if an album has gaps, the gapless playback would play back the music with gaps. If there are only a partial number of tracks on the album that are gapless, only those songs will be played back gaplessly. Just think of the way a CD is listened to without ripping it. A DAP that supports gapless playback will play back the music exactly the same way.

[electron]

umm, my CD player does not have gapless playback.. I donno about yours though...

although yes, gapless does mean that you can hear it the way the artist wanted it, which is nice

[Marvin the Martian]

I thought a CD player by definition would be gapless.....are you sure yours isn't?

[musichound]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

I thought a CD player by definition would be gapless.....are you sure yours isn't?

Yes, all CD players by very nature are gapless, except if they play MP3 files, where that can differentiate.

[Marvin the Martian]

OK, that makes a little more sense.....lol.

[h1a8]

Originally Posted by electron

no, all that means is that the S9 will be better for people who want gapless. the P3 is a fine player, and can hold its own against the S9. its just better at things that the S9 are not as good at and vice versa.

The s9 betters the P3 by
1. gapless
2. amoled beautiful screen
3. more playable codecs (ac3,ape)
4. bigger screen

The P3 betters the s9 by
1. unrestricted h.264 (I'm not sure if S9's h2.264 is restricted though)

As far as I'm concerned the amoled and bigger screen makes the cowon s9 a no brainer over the p3. Adding in gapless is outright murder.