Version:           1.22 (using KDE KDE 3.3.2)
Installed from:    Mandriva RPMs
OS:                Linux

Consider a CD containing 5 tracks, where the sound is continuous across all 5 (eg a classical symphony with no breaks). If this is ripped to .ogg files, one might then have a playlist.m3u file whose contents are:

1.ogg
2.ogg
3.ogg
4.ogg
5.ogg

Loading playlist.m3u in amarok will result in a slight hiccup of about 0.1 seconds between the files.

HOWEVER, unlike MP3, ogg files are designed to be concatenatable. This means that:

cat 1.ogg 2.ogg 3.ogg 4.ogg 5.ogg > continuous.ogg 

will create a single file which, when played back is perfectly continuous, with no hiccups. 

Given this possibility, I think (this is just a hunch!) that amarok could achieve gapless playback from the playlist.m3u file very easily. All it would have to do is open the next file and pre-buffer it slightly before the end of the previous file.

For bonus points, amarok could detect the change in metatag midway through the file, and change the title/track information (xmms and ogginfo both do this). [If you'd like an example of what I mean, please email me and I'll send you some sample files.]

Thanks a lot - amarok is great!