is fading in/out a lossy process?, [moved from FLAC] Options

[unicorn20]

hey all you audio experts of the forum.
i've been interested in lossless music for a long time and i got almost all of my knowledge about it from this forum.
i have an issue that i'm trying to figure out, and i've searched everywhere possible for info about it but i couldn't find any.
so you guys are my last resort, i hope you can help...
here's the issue :

i download many lossless albums all the time (WAV,APE,ALAC,FLAC), but i only keep to myself those few songs (if any) from each album, those songs that i liked the most.
most albums are ripped with gap detection so they begin with silence and end with silence, but there are some albums that don't, albums such as :

mixed albums (where the songs dissolve into each other)
live albums (where the tracks begin and end with the audience clapping or shouting)
one track albums (where there are no gaps or pauses between tracks)

i find it very annoying to listen to songs that comes from albums like the above, so i fix it using audacity, i fade in, and fade out, add some silence if necessary (using the "generate - silence" option), the thing is i can't help thinking maybe i am turning this perfect lossless file into a lossy one, and by doing so actually creating a fake lossless (since i'm always exporting as flac), my ears can't hear any difference, but still, you know way more than i do about these things.

so please tell me, does the "fade in / fade out / add silence" processes make a lossless file lossy?

sorry if my english is bad, i hope it's understandable, and if you find any mistakes please correct me.

thanks

This post has been edited by unicorn20: Feb 19 2013, 18:10

[db1989]

If I make sure to include something like this in my next post containing sarcasm about processes that a user could easily identify as not being beneficial to quality by spending a minute or two on Google, will it preclude over-the-top allegations such as “hazing and well-poisoning”?

Never mind the fact that, in that specific context, I don’t think I would have been bothered about how long ago the user had registered: regardless of the age of a user’s account, “hazing”, with all its negative connotations and associated tales of woe (and, FWIW, I tick approximately zero of the boxes necessary to be a frat-boy), is a silly exaggeration when used to describe a joke.

I wasn’t picking on someone because s/he was new: I just made a (failed? bad?) joke based upon my reluctance to have Hydrogenaudio provide yet more facilitation to file-sharing. That, in itself, is nothing personal to unicorn20 or an indication that I don’t want the other questions to be answered: it’s just sideways (sidewarez?) commentary on one particular phenomenon and how it tends to intersect with this site. I kept it deadpan as tacit commentary about my opinion of said phenomenon.

So, it was an attempted joke and one that, I would hope, would be obvious as such after a tiny bit of research. So, with that said, here is where I try to make a positive contribution to this discussion: Independent research and scepticism are healthy, and I encourage them, especially when the subject is something about which you are happy to admit to having little knowledge.

However, although I could extend that logic also to cover staff on websites, I don’t want to harm the reputation that Hydrogenaudio has as a reliable source of information, so I apologise for not making it clear that I was joking – not because of hypersensitivity such as the above but because staff are trusted to be equally reliable, and it’s certainly not my place to cast any doubt upon the site in that capacity, regardless of intent.

So, yes, next time I’ll either make it clear that I’m being a grinch, or I’ll just do my deadpanning in a literal way.