A continuous album can still have numbered tracks because navigation and transitions are separate jobs. You may want a shortcut to Eclipse without asking your player to put a pause before it. Before changing an app’s transition controls, work out whether you want to change the order, remove a gap, or make the songs overlap.
What changes before Money
Pink Floyd’s official page for The Dark Side of the Moon lists five named pieces on Side A and five on Side B. Side A runs from Speak to Me to The Great Gig in the Sky. Side B begins with Money and ends with Eclipse.
On vinyl, the listener has to turn the record over after The Great Gig in the Sky before reaching Money. An app can move to Money without that physical task. Even with matching names and order, the way you use the format has changed.
The artist’s listing is the basis for this example; the track indexing on a particular CD or streaming release still needs checking. Use the same edition when comparing playback settings. Our guide to remasters and remixes explains why an edition label deserves attention before you attribute a difference to the player.
Gapless and crossfade answer different questions
Spotify’s support page describes gapless playback as removing gaps or pauses that may occur between tracks. It describes crossfade as overlapping two tracks while the first fades out and the next fades in. Crossfade is listed as a Premium feature.
Crossfade therefore changes the timing of two neighbours, even if you leave the running order alone. If you also shuffle the album, you’ve changed the neighbour as well. That makes it harder to work out which change you actually preferred.
Apple makes another distinction in its AutoMix and Crossfade instructions. Crossfade uses a chosen duration; AutoMix can make transitions dynamically. Apple also lists sequential album playback among the situations where AutoMix may not dynamically mix. So sequential album playback deserves its own check. A transition feature that acts on a playlist may behave differently when you start at the beginning of an album.
These are source-based explanations of the controls, not results from an MP3Raid listening test. The support definitions also don’t establish what a particular album master contains. A gap you hear deserves investigation before you assume either an artistic decision or a faulty setting.
A comparison using the end of Side B
Brain Damage and Eclipse are neighbours on the artist’s Side B list. Selecting Eclipse gives you a shortcut to the last piece; starting earlier lets you approach it through the preceding one. Numbered tracks make both choices available.
To compare the transition setting on that pair:
- Keep the album edition and running order fixed. Turn off crossfade or automatic mixing where your app allows it, then let Brain Damage lead into Eclipse.
- Return to the same pair with your usual transition setting enabled. Avoid changing shuffle or choosing another edition at the same time.
- Write down the edition, the setting and which transition you preferred. You can then repeat the comparison without relying on a memory of the whole album.
Check that the control is available in your playback setup before comparing it. Spotify’s support page says these transition features can’t be set while using Spotify Connect. A missing control is a reason to check the setup, rather than evidence that the album has a particular kind of transition.