M4A plugin (AAC encoded by iTunes)

[ThomasW]

In this thread someone asked if my M4P plugin would also work with M4A files. It doesn't, but I've made another plugin that does

It's still beta because no one (except me) has tested it yet. Please tell me if it works for you.
It reads all the metatags written to the file by iTunes but cannot change them. I will probably implement that when the new Winamp 5 SDK is released.

Cheers,

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]

Here's the file:

[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!

[roytam1]

I find a mp4/m4a plugin here:

http://www.audiocoding.com/download.php

[DJ Egg]

Does ^that^ plugin definitely support M4A ?
There's another MP4/M4A/AAC plugin here, but it doesn't support M4P

Still trying to work out if they're 2 different plugins or not
(I've only ever used the one from rarewares)

[starwiz]

Okay, now I'm confused.

Which plugin can play itunes encrypted files?
If they both can, what's the difference?

[DJ Egg]

The plugin for encrypted iTunes Music Store files (M4P format) is here

As to what the difference between M4A and M4P is...
well, I haven't got a damn clue.
(apart from maybe one is a bigger nightmare than the other, lol).

I've personally never used iTunes, and never will.
Someone else can hopefully shed some light on the situation ?!?!

[Sawg]

M4P: DRM protected
M4A: Non-Protected MP4 Audio

I *think* .MP4 and .M4A are interchanageble, but they might not be.

[Lion King]

m4a is a renamed mp4 file and is supported by the faad2 plugin, apple uses the m4v extension for mp4 files that contain video

m4p is a drm protected mp4 audio file

better use faad2 for your mp4/m4a files because quicktime isn't compatible with all possible mp4 files (eg. other profiles than lc like he-aac/aacplus) and Thomas' plugin doesn't support tagging them

the file on the rarewares site is an older version of the plugin available at audiocoding.com. neither version supports m4p

[DJ Egg]

Aah, right. Cheers guys.

So we should link to audiocoding.com plugin instead of rarewares one then ?!

[Lion King]

there are also compiles on John Edwards' homepage:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jfe1205/in_mp4.zip

and on Case's site:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~cse/files/in_mp4.zip

John's compile is currently the most recent one but that changes daily

audiocoding.com/the sourceforge site and rarewares provide nsis installers which might be better for newbies

i'd link to the latest compile or to the official site (audiocoding.com) if i was to lazy to check the dates

[ThomasW]

If you want complete (unprotected) AAC support, install my plugin AND the faad2 plugin. The faad2 plugin will then play back all .aac and .mp4 files, and my plugin will play back .m4a files (which are coming from iTunes, can definitely be played by Quicktime and use the Mpeg-4 tagging standard that faad does NOT support).

better use faad2 for your mp4/m4a files because quicktime isn't compatible with all possible mp4 files (eg. other profiles than lc like he-aac/aacplus)

This is probably true, but if you use both plugins, those (rare) files with other profiles are still played back with the faad plugin, because they never have a .m4a but a .mp4 or .aac extension.
I think someone should update the faad2 plugins to support the iTunes tagging format, then we can use it for m4a files too.

[Lion King]

Originally posted by ThomasW
This is probably true, but if you use both plugins, those (rare) files with other profiles are still played back with the faad plugin, because they never have a .m4a but a .mp4 or .aac extension.
I think someone should update the faad2 plugins to support the iTunes tagging format, then we can use it for m4a files too.

the faad2 plugin already supports the m4a extension and adds itunes compatible tags to all mp4/m4a files

[ThomasW]

Originally posted by Lion King
the faad2 plugin already supports the m4a extension and adds itunes compatible tags to all mp4/m4a files

It does? I must have used an old version. So you've been absolutely right - the faad plugin is all we need to play back all aac files (except those protected m4p files).

[ralph_wiggum]

Apple Lossless in WinAmp

I was able to play Apple Lossless files in WinAmp using ThomasW's plugin, but only after updating to the latest version of Quicktime and after renaming the in_mp4.dll to in_mp4.bak to prevent a conflict. After that it was smooth sailing.