I never understood the eTree "fades = bad practice" thing. Fades are only bad practice if they're done destructively. Non-destructive fades, when spanning music across multiple discs, are the way to go. Though I don't do them much now, since I don't listen to audio CDs any longer.
ETREE went with the no-fade rule because no one could do it in an intelligent way and with any consistency. I remember several arguments over whether or not discs should be faded, whether or not an extra fade-track should be added to file-sets, etc.
It finally just go to the point where they said, "F-It. No more fades"!!! But really they're not going to ban your seed because it has fades in it...
The "same" discussion is occurring concerning FLAC Tagging. Since everyone does it differently, and Tags alter FLAC MD5s, etc., etc., ETREE has basically stayed away from FLAC Tagging. Its better to not have it, than to try and convince a million people to do it a certain way.
Hell, we can't even convince people to use the ETREE Naming Guidelines.
Terry