Solo Piano Works by Arvo Pärt, Henryk Gorecki & Galina Ustvolskaya (1994)

Forgive a really simple question, but I don't understand the upside of the APE format. When I download, it's just one big, unlabeled file. To get the tracks, I have to chop it up into pieces. It's very labor intensive. Am I missing something?

Yes you are and it doesn't need to be labor intensive. :)

APE is simply a "lossless" format, namely it is an identical image of the original CD. Once you burn the image on a blank CD, you will have a exact replica of the original.

As for the "one big, unlabeled file", I don't split my CD into separate tracks (like others who, for example, create individual FLAC files for each track) because I want to preserve the integrity of the CD as much as I can. For example, you might have the audience clapping between the songs in a live concert. If I were to rip the CD into tracks, you will never be able to entirely restore the original condition. This can only be done with the image file.

That is why I also include the CUE file along with the APE. The Cue is a text file that literally holds the information for each track. This is what is actually used by the media software like Foobar or a burning software like Nero or Burrrn to split the APE into separate tracks, only it's contiguous.

Although Foobar is nice, I recommend KMPlayer (http://www.kmplayer.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25), which is a very versatile and robust media player that supports just about all the codecs under the sun. If you want to burn the APE to a blank media, I recommend Burrrn (http://www.burrrn.net/?page_id=6), which is especially nice since you do not need to manually decode the APE file back to WAV before burning. It does this for you.

Actually it's possible to split a cd to single tracks and to keep the playback gapless :
1. From a single ape+cue
You have to edit the cue file a bit before like this for every track

TRACK 05 AUDIO
TITLE "Track"
PERFORMER "Artist"
INDEX 00 32:34:12
INDEX 01 32:40:00

becomes

TRACK 05 AUDIO
TITLE "Track"
PERFORMER "Artist"
INDEX 01 32:34:12

2. From the cd :
Use cdex to rip, in gapless mode, to wav, then encode with flac/ape frontends.
I suppose it's possible to have the same result in eac, since many people believe eac is teh shit and despise cdex.

Anyway, once done, Winamp or any other player will play the separate files, as if the original cd was in your player.

There is the Foobar/KMPlayer option like peachfuzz said, but on my side I don't like foobar, I always want minimalist software to be able to play my stuff (i.e. my mp3/flac Cowoon player which doesn't speak .cue ;) ), or whatever the OS I may use, and single tracks are still the best solution on that side, and in my opinion.

And thanks for the post, I was in front of that cd the other day, not knowing if I'd buy it.

@ groaaar

Thanks for your input but might I just add that you don't need to split up the APE into separate tracks in order to enjoy the music as individual tracks. Plus what's the point of creating separate "gapless" tracks when you have the whole CD image with the CUE sheet? Just drag the damn CUE file right into the KMPlayer and you'll see the tracks appear right before your eyes in the playlist window. You make this sound more difficult than it is. It really isn't!

For a visual example, take a look here: http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/8872/kmpm.jpg

Ah yes indeed, on the computer there is no point, because most players accept .cue files as entry point.

But on digital "walkman" or on usb car players, you have to have separate tracks, otherwise you have one big track for the whole album, without any use for the markers in the cue. That was my point, using the lowest common denominator for all players.

But for sure, on the comp, I think there even is a cue plugin for winamp (even if I haven't used it for years, so I don't know if it's still relevant to mention it).

But it is for THAT reason why I include a CUE file with all my APEs: so that you can split "one big track" into separate tracks. You can then transfer them to your walkman or the USB. :)

Great post! I'm very curious about this Cd. I have not yet found an entry point into Pärts music, though people describe it to me like everything I like in classical music. I hope this CD might change that. What you say about it sounds very good.

When it comes to single file verus separate tracks, I personally prefer separate tracks, but splitting files up and (for my mp3-player) transcoding them, it's not a problem at all. I'll be trying out KMplayer. Foobar used to be great, but I think they added to many gadgets.

Thank you very much !

thanks :D:D:D