Song playback cut off early

Looks like the problem started in iTunes 12.2.1.

If you have any tracks that might be effected then when starting iTunes there will be a popup in the upper right that says determining gapless playback, and any files in there could have playback problems.

So far if I add mp3s to iTunes and play them before quitting (even for a second) they don't end up there next time I reopen iTunes.

Seeming good so far. Fingers crossed that this is it.

I would give it a try with a few you're having problems with now to test it out.

Did another hundred songs myself and haven't found one with the error yet.

One note: I am adding everything via the Automatically Add to iTunes folder -- I tried adding stuff via File -> Add to Library and those files got stuck in 'calculating gapless playback' on every iTunes startup.

Slowly readding stuff but if I don't post here in the next week it's a good sign that this is (finally) a successful workaround.

To anyone reading, I just readded 3,000 songs to my library using this method.

So far no problems (a new record) so I am considering my workaround to fully resolve my problem.

Hopefully Apple will resolve the bug and make it work without readding everything, I just got tired of waiting for them to fix it.

If anyone is interested you can submitted bugs via the iTunes feedback form (http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html). Here is the one I wrote:

I have a workaround to a bug with gapless playback of MP3s (maybe only LAME encoded). It started in iTunes 12.2 and still exists in the latest version.

On startup iTunes activity circle appears in the upper right and says 'determining gapless playback information' for many MP3s.

These files may not play to completion -- at some point in the song (5:22 for many files) iTunes will think the rest of the song is silence and skip to the next track.

The way I have found to avoid the bug is to add all MP3s by moving them too 'Automatically Add to iTunes' and then play the song (just for a second) before quitting iTunes. On the next startup they are not in the list and play properly.

If I add to my library via the menu or quit before playing the MP3s then they are effected.

Thanks

This workaround works perfectly for me and I haven't encountered the issue since. Some notes:

I readded all my mp3s that had been added after I upgraded to iTunes 12.2 (you can check in /Utilities/Applications/System Information -> Software -> iTunes to see when you installed each version).

Nothing is analyzed when I start iTunes.

You don't even need to play the songs for a second just fast forward through them so iTunes touches them.

You could readd them on an ad hoc basis when you encounter a bad file/album but I really just wanted to be done with the issue.

I saved my track ratings by 'printing' them into the grouping tag. First sort all your songs by rating, then select all the 5 stars, get info and change the grouping to 5, etc. etc. Then after you import you can sort by grouping and re-rate all the 5 grouped songs to 5 stars.

I didn't try the upgrade released a few days ago -- going to put off upgrading until absolutely necessary from now on.

Good luck!

If anyone uses my workaround I use the following Apple script after adding files to my library to let each song play for appx 1 second (change 5 to however many songs you have added):

delay 1

activate application "iTunes"

tell application "System Events"

repeat 5 times

key code 124

delay 1.5

end repeat

end tell