diff -u -r rockbox-orig/apps/codecs/mpa.c rockbox/apps/codecs/mpa.c
--- rockbox-orig/apps/codecs/mpa.c	2011-01-10 16:35:44.000000000 +0100
+++ rockbox/apps/codecs/mpa.c	2011-01-18 16:02:02.409287750 +0100
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 
 CODEC_HEADER
 
+#define GAP_SKIP_THRESH 5000000
+
 #if NUM_CORES > 1 && !defined(MPEGPLAYER)
 #define MPA_SYNTH_ON_COP
 #endif
@@ -449,7 +451,34 @@
         mad_synth_thread_wait_pcm();
 
         if (framelength > 0) {
-            
+
+	/* if this was the first frame and we are doing gap skipping,
+           find the first non-gap sample, and adjust samples_to_skip 
+           accordingly */
+
+        /* this should catch cases where lead_trim was not set by way of the
+           id3 tag. There is a small chance it would happen to match, in 
+           which case we might chop off up to 1 frame that was not intended
+           to be chopped off. If this is unacceptable, we could use another
+           variable to detect this case. */
+
+	  if ( samples_to_skip == mpeg_latency[ci->id3->layer] &&
+              ci->global_settings->gap_skip ) {
+              int ss_tmp;
+              ss_tmp = samples_to_skip;
+              while (synth.pcm.samples[0][samples_to_skip] < GAP_SKIP_THRESH  &&
+                  synth.pcm.samples[0][samples_to_skip] > -GAP_SKIP_THRESH  &&
+                  synth.pcm.samples[1][samples_to_skip] < GAP_SKIP_THRESH &&
+                  synth.pcm.samples[1][samples_to_skip] > -GAP_SKIP_THRESH &&
+                  samples_to_skip < mpeg_framesize[ci->id3->layer])
+                      {
+			  samples_to_skip++;
+                      }
+                /* adjust the frame length by the samples we skipped */
+                framelength -= (samples_to_skip - ss_tmp); 
+            }
+
+  
             /* In case of a mono file, the second array will be ignored. */
             ci->pcmbuf_insert(&synth.pcm.samples[0][samples_to_skip],
                               &synth.pcm.samples[1][samples_to_skip],
@@ -500,7 +529,26 @@
 
     /* Finish the remaining decoded frame.
        Cut the required samples from the end. */
+
+    /* If we have enabled gap skipping and the LAME header 
+       didn't already tell us to skip the end of the last frame,
+       search backward from the end to find non-zero samples */
+
     if (framelength > stop_skip){
+        if ( ! stop_skip && ci->global_settings->gap_skip ) {
+            while ( synth.pcm.samples[0][framelength-stop_skip-1] < 
+                    GAP_SKIP_THRESH  &&
+                synth.pcm.samples[0][framelength-stop_skip-1] > 
+                    -GAP_SKIP_THRESH  &&
+                synth.pcm.samples[1][framelength-stop_skip-1] < 
+                    GAP_SKIP_THRESH &&
+                synth.pcm.samples[1][framelength-stop_skip-1] > 
+                    -GAP_SKIP_THRESH &&
+                stop_skip < framelength )
+                {
+                    stop_skip++;
+                }
+       }
         ci->pcmbuf_insert(synth.pcm.samples[0], synth.pcm.samples[1],
                           framelength - stop_skip);
     }
diff -u -r rockbox-orig/apps/lang/english.lang rockbox/apps/lang/english.lang
--- rockbox-orig/apps/lang/english.lang	2011-01-10 16:35:25.000000000 +0100
+++ rockbox/apps/lang/english.lang	2011-01-14 21:11:33.730514352 +0100
@@ -12713,3 +12713,17 @@
     *: "Yes (requires initialized database)"
   </voice>
 </phrase>
+<phrase>
+  id: LANG_GAP_SKIP
+  desc: gap skip playback menu
+  user: core
+  <source>
+    *: "MP3 gap skip"
+  </source>
+  <dest>
+    *: "MP3 gap skip"
+  </dest>
+  <voice>
+    *: "MP3 gap skip"
+  </voice>
+</phrase>
diff -u -r rockbox-orig/apps/menus/playback_menu.c rockbox/apps/menus/playback_menu.c
--- rockbox-orig/apps/menus/playback_menu.c	2011-01-10 16:35:27.000000000 +0100
+++ rockbox/apps/menus/playback_menu.c	2011-01-18 15:08:56.766444751 +0100
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
 static int playback_callback(int action,const struct menu_item_ex *this_item);
     
 MENUITEM_SETTING(shuffle_item, &global_settings.playlist_shuffle, playback_callback);
+MENUITEM_SETTING(gap_skip, &global_settings.gap_skip, playback_callback);
 MENUITEM_SETTING(repeat_mode, &global_settings.repeat_mode, playback_callback);
 MENUITEM_SETTING(play_selected, &global_settings.play_selected, NULL);
 
@@ -183,7 +184,7 @@
 
 MAKE_MENU(playback_settings,ID2P(LANG_PLAYBACK),0,
           Icon_Playback_menu,
-          &shuffle_item, &repeat_mode, &play_selected,
+          &shuffle_item, &gap_skip, &repeat_mode, &play_selected,
           &ff_rewind_settings_menu,
 #ifdef HAVE_DISK_STORAGE 
           &buffer_margin,
diff -u -r rockbox-orig/apps/settings.h rockbox/apps/settings.h
--- rockbox-orig/apps/settings.h	2011-01-10 16:35:46.000000000 +0100
+++ rockbox/apps/settings.h	2011-01-18 15:09:25.657482970 +0100
@@ -595,6 +595,7 @@
 
     /* playlist/playback settings */
     int  repeat_mode; /* 0=off 1=repeat all 2=repeat one 3=shuffle 4=ab */
+    bool gap_skip; /* try to skip extra gaps at begin/end of mp3 tracks */
     int  next_folder; /* move to next folder */
     int  recursive_dir_insert; /* should directories be inserted recursively */
     bool fade_on_stop; /* fade on pause/unpause/stop */
diff -u -r rockbox-orig/apps/settings_list.c rockbox/apps/settings_list.c
--- rockbox-orig/apps/settings_list.c	2011-01-10 16:35:46.000000000 +0100
+++ rockbox/apps/settings_list.c	2011-01-12 21:31:49.000000000 +0100
@@ -654,6 +654,7 @@
     OFFON_SETTING(0, playlist_shuffle, LANG_SHUFFLE, false, "shuffle", NULL),
     SYSTEM_SETTING(NVRAM(4), resume_index, -1),
     SYSTEM_SETTING(NVRAM(4), resume_offset, -1),
+    OFFON_SETTING(0, gap_skip, LANG_GAP_SKIP, false, "gap skip", NULL),
     CHOICE_SETTING(0, repeat_mode, LANG_REPEAT, REPEAT_OFF, "repeat",
                    "off,all,one,shuffle"
 #ifdef AB_REPEAT_ENABLE