Playing back iTunes Music Store (M4P-AAC) files in Winamp

[ThomasW]

Hi,

about a month ago I had written a plugin to play back iTMS files in Winamp. While the plugin worked great with unprotected AAC files, it wasn't able to decrypt the iTMS files. It turned out that Quicktime, which I used in order to legally decrypt the music on authorized computers, is really crippled on Windows. That's why support for output plugins, visualizations and the equalizer is not possible. :-(

I was really frustrated because of these limitations (which do NOT exist in Quicktime for Mac OS X, by the way) and decided not to release a plugin at all.
In the last weeks I got some emails from Winamp users asking me to release the plugin in spite of the limitations, so I'll attach it here. I hope some people will find it useful.

If you find bugs or have ideas on how to improve the plugin please post them here. Support for equalizers, visualizations and output plugins, though, isn't possible unless Apple decides to release a version of Quicktime for Windows that's on par with the Macintosh version.

Best regards,

Tom

P.S.: I haven't created an installer, just drop the unzipped file into your Winamp plugins folder.

P.P.S.: While I'm absolutely sure that the plugin won't delete your files or something, I cannot take
any responsibility for any bugs the plugin may contain. ;-)

[ThomasW]

I have now created an installer for the plugin and you should soon be able to find it in the official plugins list on winamp.com.

[DJ Egg]

So, this plugin supports AAC, MP4, M4A and M4P,
except the encrypted M4P files from iTunes are crippled?
(no EQ, DSP/Output plugins, like in_wm) ??

[edit]

ok, I've just tried it out, and it adds M4P support only,
but (tf) I don't have any of these files.
I guess what we need now is for some feedback to know if it works or not.

Cheers

[/edit]

[ThomasW]

DJ Egg: The current plugin is only for M4P files. If you or anybody else is interested in a fully featured AAC,MP4 and M4A plugin that is compatible with the M4A tagging standard used by iTunes (unlike the current AAC Winamp plugin), I could release that, too. The only limitation in that plugin is that it does only read the tags and doesn't write/change them. (The current Winamp SDK is obsolete and all those Metatag functions are not documented at all . I guess that will change as soon as Winamp 5 is finally released.)

[Gonzotek]

Works for me No complaints beyond the already noted limitations .

Good work! I use iTunes to work with my iPod and to purchase music, but it's not so great for casual listening/playback when I want to work with other applications. My system starts to feel sluggish, and I can't hide it in the systray. I've always used winamp for everything other than apple drm'd files and now that's been taken care of too

New sdk will probably come out with final or shortly thereafter; it would be SO AWESOME if you added all the new metadata stuff when it is available.

Thanks!
-=Gonzotek=-

[CraigF]

Originally posted by Gonzotek
I use iTunes to work with my iPod and to purchase music

mmmm, DRM *droool*

If you're gonna purchase music, why not just order the cd?

(obviously avoiding those with copy protection)

[Gonzotek]

Because:
A) I don't want to wait for the cd to arrive--Instant Gratification.
B) I don't care about album art or inserts
C) I haven't had a standard, standalone cd player in use in around three years
D) The first thing I'd do if I got a cd would be to rip it to a format supported by my iPod (and then likely lose or give the disc away)
E) If I want a disc copy of the "protected" files, it only takes ~5 mins to get one. I realize that it won't be quite as high-quality as the original, but neither would the p2p-download tracks I would have burned instead.

The DRM apple uses has had hardly any negative effect on me. The one complaint I had (regarding drm) has been negated with this plugin. I understand that Apple may change their policies and/or code and make this plugin not work; but hey, the record industry is changing their cd policies and making them not work. So...I use what works for me and am satisfied. I acknowledge the limitations, but the advantages are compelling enough for me to buy anyway. When and if that changes for the worse, I'm certain I'll (once again)re-evaluate my method of obtaining new music.

[ThomasW]

Originally posted by CraigF
mmmm, DRM *droool*

If you're gonna purchase music, why not just order the cd?

(obviously avoiding those with copy protection)

There are several reasons:

1.) Ordering CDs takes more time and often you have to buy the whole album to get the song you like.
2.) The great thing about iTunes is that you won't notice the copy protection at all if you're on the Mac. Want to open the file with a sound editor? No problem. Want to use the song in other applications (e.g. your DVD creator)? No problem. Want to burn it with another burning application? No problem. Want to use another player? No problem. Want to convert to .WAV for some reason? No problem. You will only ever notice the protection if you are really going to copy the music to more than 3 computers.
3.) More and more CDs are copy-protected. Here in Germany about 95% of all new CDs already have a copy-protection.

But I have to say that if I lived in the US, so that I could still get most CDs without copy protection, and I was a Windows user, I wouldn't buy songs in the iTMS (or in one of the WMA stores), because on Windows, you really notice the copy protection and that's a pity. (That's why I first decided not to release this plugin at all.)

[Jstphish]

Originally posted by ThomasW
DJ Egg: The current plugin is only for M4P files. If you or anybody else is interested in a fully featured AAC,MP4 and M4A plugin that is compatible with the M4A tagging standard used by iTunes (unlike the current AAC Winamp plugin), I could release that, too. The only limitation in that plugin is that it does only read the tags and doesn't write/change them. (The current Winamp SDK is obsolete and all those Metatag functions are not documented at all . I guess that will change as soon as Winamp 5 is finally released.)

I would love to have that plug-in. If you could provide a download link that would beyond great. Personally, I can't stand how Winamp5 displays .m4a files. It's pretty much one of the reasons I am still using iTunes and not Winamp5. That and I can't import the .xml library list from iTunes to Winamp5. I really don't want to re-rate all 1,500 songs.

Anyway, yeah a download link would be great.

[ThomasW]

Originally posted by Jstphish
I would love to have that plug-in. If you could provide a download link that would beyond great. Personally, I can't stand how Winamp5 displays .m4a files. It's pretty much one of the reasons I am still using iTunes and not Winamp5. That and I can't import the .xml library list from iTunes to Winamp5. I really don't want to re-rate all 1,500 songs.

Anyway, yeah a download link would be great.

See this thread Please tell me if the plugin works for you.

Tom

[Jstphish]

Thank you so much. It works perfectly!!! I don't need it to write tags yet because I find iTunes does it much easier and faster anyway. Thanks again!

[Gonzotek]

Feature Request:
Add .m4b to your supported file extensions. It's the protected apple/audible audiobook filetype, and it seems to be identical to .m4p. I took copies of some of my *.m4b files and renamed them to *.m4p and your plugin worked fine. The only functional difference in these two types of files that I know of is iTunes and the iPod remember the last position you were at when you pause while listening to an m4b(so you don't have to seek around a long book to get back to your spot). The position might be stored in the iPod/iTunes database, not the file, so if you can't support remembering the paused position via Winamp, I'd understand; but that'd be cool too

Cheers,
-=Gonzotek=-

[ThomasW]

Originally posted by Gonzotek
Feature Request:
Add .m4b to your supported file extensions. It's the protected apple/audible audiobook filetype, and it seems to be identical to .m4p. I took copies of some of my *.m4b files and renamed them to *.m4p and your plugin worked fine. The only functional difference in these two types of files that I know of is iTunes and the iPod remember the last position you were at when you pause while listening to an m4b(so you don't have to seek around a long book to get back to your spot). The position might be stored in the iPod/iTunes database, not the file, so if you can't support remembering the paused position via Winamp, I'd understand; but that'd be cool too

Cheers,
-=Gonzotek=-

Have you already looked at the modification date of those m4b files? Does it change when you play one?

[Gonzotek]

Just checked, it does not change, they're all dated with the time/date(date modified) I received them. So the pause data is stored in the database then, right? oh well, I can get along without that.

[ThomasW]

All right, I'm going to update the plugin (add .m4b as a supported file extension) this evening and will post it here.