xmms-crossfade 0.3.11 review

xmms-crossfade is an output plugin for XMMS

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 482K Developer: Peter Eisenlohr

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xmms-crossfade is an output plugin for XMMS. Its main feature is automatic crossfading. xmms-crossfade also removes the gaps between tracks, to play whole MP3 albums without any audible interruption.

xmms-crossfade supports OSS via a builtin driver, and any other platform by using existing output plugins. As of version 0.3.9, the Audacious and BMP players are also supported.

Here are some key features of "xmms crossfade":
Crossfading:

Crossfade between two songs, i.e. fade out the end of the current song while fading in the beginning of the next for a smooth transition. Length and volume of the fadings can be adjusted separately for fading in and out.

Fadein/Fadeout:

Smoothly fadein/fadeout at the beginning or end of playback.

Continuous output:

Keeps the audio device opened when switching from one song to the next. When used with the Gap-Killer, this allows for seamless playback of whole albums without any audible interruption between the tracks.

Gap-Killer:

Removes the short gaps of silence at the beginning and/or end of mp3 files. These gaps are caused by some mp3-encoders.

Automatic detection of live albums:

Automatically detects live albums and pre-mixed tracks which already are crossfaded. For those tracks, crossfading can be disabled automatically.

High quality:

XMMS-crossfade can take special care to avoid the clicks some soundcards produce when suddenly being stopped. Also, it can improve quality when seeking within a song.

Secondary effect plugin:

XMMS-crossfade allows you to select a second effect plugin. This is usefull for example when using the volume normalizing plugin together with the icecast plugin.

What's New in This Release:
A bug in the songchange detection that sometimes caused the end of songs to be cut off has been fixed.
On a related note, the songchange timeout setting in the configuration dialog has been re-enabled.
Also, changes have been made to support the latest versions of Audacious.