[linux-audio-user] Mystery first "track" on many CDs?

[Paul Winkler]

Hi folks,

I'm batch-ripping and encoding a lot of my CD collection to
put on my mp3 player.  I've noticed that a number of CDs contain
an apparently spurious first track that's apparently very short
(about a tenth of a second) and contains no audible signal. 
What the heck is the point of this track?

e.g.

$ sndfile-info track00.cdda.wav 

Version : libsndfile-1.0.11

========================================
File : track00.cdda.wav
Length : 23564
RIFF : 23556
WAVE
fmt  : 16
  Format        : 0x1 => WAVE_FORMAT_PCM
  Channels      : 2
  Sample Rate   : 44100
  Block Align   : 4
  Bit Width     : 16
  Bytes/sec     : 176400
data : 23520
End

----------------------------------------
Sample Rate : 44100
Frames      : 5880
Channels    : 2
Format      : 0x00010002
Sections    : 1
Seekable    : TRUE
Duration    : 00:00:00.133
Signal Max  : 0 (-inf dB)

-- 

Paul Winkler
http://www.slinkp.com