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

[extrabigmehdi]

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

"fade in / fade out" is strictly speaking a lossy processing, but it doesn't make you file "lossy" in the sense that no lossy encoding is applied (like mp3, lossy encoding get rid of lot information, according to some psychoacoustic principles).
In fact, everything between the fade in and fade out, would remain exactly the same ( "lossless" if you want to absolutely use that word) , so if it makes your music listening more enjoyable, why not. Just don't expect to be able to restore the original file.
If you just add silence at begin/end of track, again the music would remain strictly the same, and at the bit level (unless you changed overall volume, sampling rate, bit depth , etc...).

This post has been edited by extrabigmehdi: Feb 19 2013, 19:34