Understanding when keeping/making a CUE file is necessary?

[sjf99]

All,

Relatively new so I was hoping for some help. I understand the need for a CUE file when splitting up say one FLAC/ALAC audio file to it's respective individual tracks. Makes sense.

But why do I need one if I already have a ripped CD to let's say ALAC format (I use iTunes) and it was 100% verified by accuraterip. Let's say I wanted to burn these contents back to a writeable CD. I am assuming I could just use a burning software program (even iTunes) to do this?

Can anyone point me in a better direction to read up on CUE files and If I need them?

Thanks.

Scott

[Spoon]

Re: Understanding when keeping/making a CUE file is necessary?

You do not need CUE sheets, they are for people who want the whole CD as one big track.

[garym]

Re: Understanding when keeping/making a CUE file is necessary?

You do not need CUE sheets, they are for people who want the whole CD as one big track.

Agree. In the distant past, one needed cue files for things like gapless playback, etc. This is no longer true. And one can burn the separate digital files (e.g., ALAC or FLAC) back to a CDR to recreate the CD without needing a CUE file.

[sjf99]

Re: Understanding when keeping/making a CUE file is necessary?

Agree. In the distant past, one needed cue files for things like gapless playback, etc. This is no longer true. And one can burn the separate digital files (e.g., ALAC or FLAC) back to a CDR to recreate the CD without needing a CUE file.

Thanks guys, question. If I did burn the separate digital files back to a CDR would it still pass an accuraterip check without the cue file for reference when burning (i.e. for indexing?) I guess I could run a test myself and see too, just want to try and learn more Thanks.

[garym]

Re: Understanding when keeping/making a CUE file is necessary?

Thanks guys, question. If I did burn the separate digital files back to a CDR would it still pass an accuraterip check without the cue file for reference when burning (i.e. for indexing?) I guess I could run a test myself and see too, just want to try and learn more Thanks.

No clue. I haven't found the need to actually burn digital files back to a CDR in over 10 years.

edit: except for my ripping computer, I don't even own anything that can play an audio CD (not in home stereo, not in cars, not in my other computers, not portable). I think I still have an old CD player in the attic somewhere.

[krafty]

Old thread, but let me pour some of my thoughts as someone who struggled with it. Recently I bought a CD over Amazon (Martin L. Gore - Counterfeit 2). I did not realize that this CD there is marked as "CD-R" and is manufactured under demand - so if one customer places an order, they print the entire booklet and sleeves and they burn a CD-R. The CD-R has a fine well done printing coat that is pretty close to the original. However, the hue from the sleeve is altered: more blue-ish and dark (that was the thing that made me realize something was wrong). At the end of the day, this is a CD-R with a lifetime span of 10 years. Unacceptable to me.

From this point on, I came to the conclusion that if I am not accepting a CD-R done by Amazon, with all the bells and whistles, it means I am not accepting CD-Rs done by my own hands. CD-Rs are really not up to the original CD at all (let us say that this CD-R would have been done with MDISC, than the durability issue would be a different thing). But knowing you paid 13 dollars for a (ironically) "authorized" counterfeit, it hurts a bit. Now I am on my quest to actually acquire the real thing.

From this day on, I stopped generating cuesheets over EAC since I will never ever use them. Get the FLACs ripped and Accurately Ripped verified, make your backup and call it a day. If you ever need the CD again, just rebuy it. As garym said once, we migrated to dBpoweramp to avoid all those complexities of doing a rip over EAC (detecting gaps, worried about it is appended to the last track, creating cuesheets that are non-compliant and no software can actually read it properly, except for a few). Just call it a day on cuesheets and it is the best thing you will ever do in 2024.