MP3 Synchronized Playing

[Michael Bulgrien]

I know that it has already been stated that an option to synchronize start two MP3 files will not be added due to technical challenges. Would the following suggestion provide a work-around to those challenges?

Start Left Side
Start Right Side .1 seconds later (but start it .1 seconds into the file)

The amount of delay between the starts could be smaller (I just used .1 seconds as an example).
If a user can click Play on one side, pause it, then click Play on the other side and resume Play on the first side to manually syncronized the playing of two files, then I fail to see why something similar cannot be done programmatically???

Whether or not an option to sync-start two files is implemented, I would like to see an option to combine both tracks of a stereo MP3 file into a mono track that plays only on one channel so that:

Left file plays in left channel only (left speaker)
Right file plays in right channel only (right speaker)

Although one would lose the stereo, one could more easily listen for subtle differences between two similar files.

[Michael Bulgrien]

On second thought, playing to one channel probably isn't realistic since you would likely have to re-render the audio into a temp file with a combined track on one side and a blank track on the other...oh well...it was a thought.

Please do reconsider adding a synchronized start button on the toolbar, however, if my suggestion above makes it doable.

[RunnerBiker]

Maybe the keyboard is a solution to the synchronized start. I can press two keys pretty quickly to start the Left and Right sides "almost" simultaneously.

If "L" would alternately start and pause the left side and "R" would alternately start and pause the right side, that might solve this issue.

Using both hands, "simultaneously" press the L&R keys, then to align the playback, press LL or RR to slightly delay one side.

"L" and "R" might not be the best keys, since they wouldn't translate into other languages, maybe "1" and "2" would be better...

[RunnerBiker]

How about allowing a user to assign keystrokes in the Tools => Customize Commands dialogue.

Something like:

Play/Pause (Left)
Play/Pause (Right)

[RunnerBiker]

I see there is a PLAY command in the Customizable commands.

I guess I understand the complication with the left/right focus that kept you from defining a Play-Left and Play-Right but this is a great improvement.

I can press my custom defined key and then click in the other side and press the custom defined key again. Now click back on the first side and tap tap to slightly delay the side that started first and the two files and pretty close.

Clicking on one side or the other is easy (it is a big target and it is close), it doesn't take any precision like hitting the little play symbol, so there isn't much delay to get activate the play key for the other side.

Thanks.

[Chris]

RunnerBiker and Michael,

Thanks for the suggestions for simultaneous playback. We'll keep them in mind for a future release.

[Tom]

MP3 Compare
- Added "Play Both" toolbar button.
- Playback now uses DirectX when available to support more codecs.

Outstanding work, guys! MP3 playback is now both consistent and convenient. The dual start capability is great. Thanks much!