I have downloaded some audio concerts that are in full format - does anyone know how to break them up so that they can be burned to seperate CDs please.

We all need someone we can lean on

i use MP3CutterJoiner for splitting tracks. it let to split not only MP3 files but WMA, OGG and lossless WAV files too

If you want to be serious about it, you need an audio editor.

Chances are your file is in mp3 format, & when an mp3 is created it produces a micro gap @ the start & end of the file, we're talking 1000's of a second here. When a long mp3 file is created from a concert cd you get micro gaps between the trax. When you split a long mp3 file into shorter files you're still going to get those micro gaps & when you burn those seperate files to cd you get a slight 'blip' in between the trax. I don't know if you use winamp but it's exactly that tiny pause you get when it moves from one track to the next.

Now, if you're willing to live with that then you could try kreams' suggestion altho that app costs. I use a freeware app called mp3 directcut which you can find here -

[mpesch3.de1.cc]

Load the file, play it, & you'll hear (& see) the microgap, select the file, & save as. You'll have to do this for each track.

However, if you want to get rid of the microgaps you've got a bit more work to do. Convert the whole file to .wav, load that into an audio editor, & save each track but this time trimming off the start & end of the file, you'll see this in the editor, this way you get a seamless cd burn.

A very good freeware audio editor is Audacity, & you can get it here -


[audacity.sourceforge.net]

One final bit of advice, make a copy of your file & work on that copy if you're mucking around with mp3s, you'll be thankful for it the first time you click the wrong button & your whole file vanishes, always have a backup. If you first convert the whole thing to a .wav & work on that, you've still got your original mp3 so you've got nothing to worry about.

I don't know of any way of splitting long concert mp3s automatically. You can do it if the file has, say, 2-3 second pauses in between each track, which would be the case with a studio album, outtakes etc, but this is not what we're on about here. If you've never done any of this before you've got a bit of a learning curve I'm afraid.

Thanks for advice. Also been told that on Vista there is a file called Movie Maker which also does the job for DVD and Audio. If I want to split say a concert lasting 2hrs plus into 2 so I can just fit them onto 2 cd's apparently it can be done relatively quickly. If you want to split the tracks up it takes longer.Incidentally, site I was downloading from is www.sugarmegs.org/ and quite a few Stones/solo goodies worth having a look at there.

We all need someone we can lean on

Sugarmegs is good to get an idea of what the concerts sound like, but the files are very compressed & hence not in the best quality. Keep these for sure, but don't waste your time splitting them up, wait until you find them in better quality before expending any effort.

As rough guides, 192bits is an acceptable bitrate for mp3s nowadays. For one cd of say 14-15 trax that's going to give you a total of 80-100 MBs, for a 2 cd concert - 160-200MBs.

As an example, Sugarmegs' 1999 Philadelphia is only 35.56MBs, which is not that great even tho they're in .wma format (supposedly better than mp3) but nevertheless a good space-filler.