albums are mix albums; perhaps more typically, there is an aesthetic pause between unrelated tracks. Also, the artist may intentionally leave in silences for dramatic effect, which should arguably be preserved regardless of whether there is a track boundary there. Compared to precise gapless playback, these methods are a different approach to erroneous silence in audio files, but other required features are the same. However, this approach requires more computation. In portable digital audio players, this means a reduced playing time on batteries. User workarounds A common workaround is to encode consecutive tracks as one single file, relying on cue sheets (or something similar) for navigation. While this method results in gapless playback within consecutive tracks, it can be unwieldy because of the possibly large size of the resulting compressed file. Furthermore, unless the playback software or hardware can recognize the cue sheets, navigating between tracks may be difficult. It may be possible to add gapless metadata to existing files. If the encoder is known, it is possible to guess the encoder delay. Also, if the compression was performed on CD audio, the original playback length will be an integer multiple of 588 samples, the size of one CD sector. Thus the total playback time can also be guessed. Adding such information to audio files will enable precise gapless playback in players that support this. Prerequisites Format support Since lossless data compression excludes the possibility of the introduction of padding, all lossless audio file formats are inherently gapless. These lossy audio file formats have provisions for gapless encoding: Musepack Ogg Vorbis Speex Opus Some other formats do not officially support gapless encoding, but some implementations of encoders or decoders may handle gapless metadata. LAME-encoded MP3 can be gapless with players that support the LAME Mp3 info tag. AAC in MP4 encoded with Nero Digital from Nero AG can be gapless with foobar2000, latest XMMS2, and iTunes 7.1.1.5 through 11.4. AAC in MP4 encoded with iTunes (current and previous versions) is gapless in iTunes 7.0 through 11.4, 2nd generation iPod nanos, all video-capable iPods with the latest firmware, and recent versions of foobar2000. iTunes-encoded MP3 is gapless when played back in iTunes 7.0 through 11.4, 2nd generation iPod nanos, and all video-capable iPods with the latest firmware. Windows Media Audio encoded with Windows Media Player 9 can be gapless with Windows Media Player 9 and onwards. Windows Media Audio encoded with