Many people who love music have discovered that the entire album ripped from a CD often appears as a complete WAV file. If there is no corresponding CUE file, then there is no way to select a single during playback or burning.
The role of CUE files and the problem of missing files
The CUE file is essentially a text index that records the starting time and title information of each song in the entire track audio file. For the entire track album audio downloaded from the Internet, the lack of a CUE file means that you can only play continuously from beginning to end, and there is no way to quickly jump to the track you want to listen to.
During the process of CD burning, if there is no CUE file, the burned disc will also be in the state of continuous audio tracks without splitting. There is no way to perform track selection and switching operations on the playback device. This situation makes the act of managing and enjoying music extremely inconvenient, highlighting the key value of this small file.
Common ways to obtain music and file status
Today, music fans mainly obtain digital music through streaming media platforms, paid download websites and various forum resource sharing. Streaming media platforms directly provide split-track playback. Many of the classic album resources shared on forums are full-track WAV plus CUE formats that were saved as disc images many years ago.
In recent years, many newly shared resources often only provide MP3 or FLAC files that have been separated and compressed, or the original CUE files are missing. This has resulted in some users who want the experience of the original album or need to burn CDs to have to rely on themselves to find or create CUE index files themselves.
Software preparation for making CUE files
To generate CUE files by yourself, you have to use specialized audio processing software. For example, a free software called "CUETools" has powerful audio analysis and CUE file generation functions. First, download the installation package suitable for your computer system from the official website of the software.
After the installation is complete, launch the software. Its main interface is generally relatively simple. You have to look for a function entrance similar to "Tools" or "Create CUE Table". Make sure you have saved the entire WAV file you need to process in an easy-to-find path on your computer to prepare for the next step.
Load and analyze entire audio files
Find and click "Process WAV Files" or similar options in the software, and a file browsing window will pop up. In this window, go to the place where you placed the entire WAV file, select the file and click to open, and the software will then begin to read and analyze the waveform data of this audio file.
The process is analyzed and the time required ranges from a few seconds to tens of seconds. The specific time is determined by the length of the audio file and the performance of your computer. The core task undertaken by the software is to detect silent gaps or sudden volume points in the audio waveform, and these positions are generally the natural separation points between tracks, which is the basis for generating track indexes.
Correct and calibrate automatic analysis results
After the software automatically analyzes it, it will create an initial CUE file list and display it in the "CUE File Excerpt" window. However, the results of automatic detection are often not perfect, and some brief static noises or volume fluctuations may be mistakenly determined as the starting point of the audio track, resulting in the number of audio tracks far exceeding the number of actual songs.
At this point, you have to check and correct manually. Carefully compare the actual number of tracks in the album, look for those suspected track points in the list that have extremely short intervals (such as only one or two seconds apart), select and remove them. At the same time, any erroneous entries with index flags marked "0" are checked and deleted.
Save and apply the generated CUE file
After confirming that the CUE point list is accurate and corresponds to the actual tracks one by one, you can take saving measures. In the software development directory, search for the option "Save CUE directory file". Clicking on it will pop up the save options dialog box. It is recommended to keep the file name the same as the WAV file and store it directly in the same folder where the WAV file is located.
After saving, you will see the newly generated .cue file in the folder. Now, when you use a player that supports CUE (for example, Foobar2000) to open this CUE file, you can see the complete album track list and then select songs to play. Load the burning software into this CUE file and you can also burn audio CDs with split tracks.
Have you ever encountered the problem of not being able to select a song from the entire audio track? How do you usually deal with the situation of missing CUE files? Welcome to share your own experience and skills in the comment area. If you find this article helpful, please give it a like and support.
