Patent ID: 7466640

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: reading digital audio data from a source medium, the digital audio data divided into a plurality of tracks, each track representing a discrete chunk of digital audio data and having sound levels varying as a function of a variable; analyzing the digital audio data to determine the levels of sound as a function of the variable and determining one or more precise values of the variable at which the level of sound crosses a specified threshold; and dividing the digital audio data into a plurality of separate files, each file containing one or more tracks and each file excluding the digital audio data having levels of sound below the specified threshold, wherein the source medium contains Table of Contents (“TOC”) data identifying the values of the variable at which each track begins and ends within each file and within each segment, said method further comprising reading and storing the TOC data, and wherein dividing includes: if the level of sound at a point where a first track ends and a second track begins is not below the specified threshold, then including the first and second tracks in the same file; and if the level of sound at a point where a third track ends and a fourth track begins is below the specified threshold, then including the third and fourth tracks in separate files.