[linux-audio-user] Mystery first "track" on many CDs?

Hi folks,

I'm batch-ripping and encoding a lot of my CD collection to
put on my mp3 player. I've noticed that a number of CDs contain
an apparently spurious first track that's apparently very short
(about a tenth of a second) and contains no audible signal.
What the heck is the point of this track?

e.g.

$ sndfile-info track00.cdda.wav

Version : libsndfile-1.0.11

========================================
File : track00.cdda.wav
Length : 23564
RIFF : 23556
WAVE
fmt : 16
  Format : 0x1 => WAVE_FORMAT_PCM
  Channels : 2
  Sample Rate : 44100
  Block Align : 4
  Bit Width : 16
  Bytes/sec : 176400
data : 23520
End

----------------------------------------
Sample Rate : 44100
Frames : 5880
Channels : 2
Format : 0x00010002
Sections : 1
Seekable : TRUE
Duration : 00:00:00.133
Signal Max : 0 (-inf dB)

-- 
Paul Winkler
http://www.slinkp.com