Combine Your Medleys!

There are some cases where combining certain tracks will have utility beyond increasing the amount of songs you can upload. Some album tracks work better when combined with the songs that come before or after them. These songs are usually split up on the albums you buy for easy access, though we've never found it particularly useful to skip to what is essentially the middle of a piece. When these individual tracks show up in your shuffled mixes, they sometimes start or stop abruptly due to the other half being missing, making for a less natural listening experience and leaving you wanting for more. You can use software such as Merge MP3 to easily combine these tracks into single file songs, so that when they pop up in your shuffled mixes, you will hear them as they were likely intended.

If you've already uploaded the album, you can simply download the songs from your online collection (if you haven't used up your downloading quota for those tracks), combine the MP3s, and re-upload them again with a new name and track number. Merge MP3 can automatically transfer things like the album name and artwork for you to the new track, leaving you with only the simple task of renaming the combined songs. If the songs are in the middle of an album, you may need to adjust the track numbers, but once it's done, it's done. The small amount of work involved for an improved listening experience is totally worth it.

Here are some examples of groups of tracks that usually sound better as one piece, but are split up on their official releases:

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper/With a Little Help From My Friends
The Beatles - Abbey Road Medley
Queen - We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions
Oasis - The Swamp Song/Champagne Supernova
The Cars - Bye Bye Love/Moving In Stereo
Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid

From start to finish, downloading, combining and re-uploading the songs as one track should take about five minutes. If one of these tracks pop up in one of your mixes, it's usually a good idea to go ahead and fix it before you forget. You can even do it while you are listening to other music!