Today in Edworking News we want to talk about Mind The Pregap Pondering the compatibility issues and complications of a clever element of the audio CD hidden track boom: The before-album pregap.
Filed under: cd, cd-i, cd-rom, compact disc, compact discs, enhanced cds, hidden tracks, pregap, red book
Today in Tedium:
Having gotten through a massive Animal Well journey, I’d like to make a proclamation: More things need hidden secrets, like Easter eggs. Usually, games and applications are where we find hidden secrets, but during the 1990s, the music industry had a monopoly on all the good ones, thanks to the compact disc, which kicked off a hidden track renaissance. As cool as hidden tracks were, the best CD trick was something called a pregap, referring to the space immediately before the first track of an album. It led to numerous innovative ideas—but it also pointed out the risks of going off-spec, as anyone who has ever tried to pull a pregap from a CD-ROM can tell you. Today’s Tedium ponders where pregaps came from and how it became the music industry’s weirdest hiding spot. – Ernie @ Tedium
The Tiny Secrets of Older CDs
Pause encoding is the term the compact disc specification uses for what is better known as the pregap section of audio CDs, according to the standard IEC 60908. Apparently, the user noticed it when trying to rip CDs using the tool **Exact Audio Copy (EAC)**, well-known for its ability to rip CDs that other programs can’t.
The question of why older CDs typically have a 0.33-second pregap before the first track was raised in a popular forum for music nerds and audio engineers. It is a curiosity that often only becomes evident when dealing with specific technical software or hardware. Notable albums with these pregaps include Beck’s Mellow Gold, Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion I & II, Nirvana’s Nevermind, and even the score to Schindler’s List.
Beck’s Mellow Gold is one example of an album with pregap hidden tracks.
The **Exact Audio Copy** program exposed an extremely specific pregap hidden on many pre-2000 CDs. Even though it affected only a tiny fraction of the entire operation, the nerds ripping CDs noticed these anomalies and discussed them with great enthusiasm.
Willie Nelson’s Hidden Track Innovation
Willie Nelson deserves credit for bringing hidden tracks into the patented world.
In 1994, Willie Nelson took a chance on a small indie jazz label called Justice Records for his record Moonlight Becomes You. This album was unique not only for its music but also for its technical innovation—**a pregap hidden track**, thanks to the brainchild of the label's founder Randall Jamail, who had just filed a patent for it.
However, an earlier claim to the technique was made by a producer in Dallas who had used it for the band **Course of Empire's 1993 album Initiation**). The technique became a subject of legal contention, but Jamail’s patent eventually endured, securing a financial boon for Justice Records.
Enhanced CDs and Their Peculiarities
Enhanced CDs, as a hybrid format, aimed to bring more multimedia elements to an album.
**Enhanced CDs (ECDs)** emerged in the mid-’90s, intended to add a multimedia experience to the usual audio content. The format featured data accessible by computers that could include music videos, band photos, and more. This multimedia experience was intended to enhance the basic audio CD, following the **Red Bo
ok**) standard.
The problem with Enhanced CDs was compatibility. Initially, they were created by placing data in the pregap or creating a Mixed-mode CD, which often led to unpleasant listening experiences for those who played the CD on repeat. The Multisession CD format eventually became more standard as it divided the data sessions to minimize these issues, though it required changes to how CD-ROM drives accessed the data.
Key Takeaways for Your Startup
Innovation often comes from small players: Willie Nelson's collaboration with Justice Records showcases how a small indie label can push boundaries and set new standards. Keep an eye on smaller players in your industry—they might be the source of the next big innovation.
The importance of compatibility testing: The issues faced by Enhanced CDs highlight the importance of rigorous compatibility testing. Make sure your product works flawlessly across various platforms and user scenarios to avoid the pitfalls that Enhanced CDs encountered.
Documentation and Patenting: Just as Randall Jamail and the Justice Records leveraged their innovation through patent filings, ensure your startup documents its innovations and protects them. This can provide a competitive edge and potential revenue streams through licensing.
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