New version of M4P plugin (memory leak fixed)

[ThomasW]

There was indeed a memory leak in the plugin. It's now fixed. I'd be glad if you could try out the new version and tell me if you encounter any problems.
If everything's ok, I'll update the plugin on the official Winamp plugin page tomorrow.

Unzip to the %ProgramFiles%\Winamp\Plugins folder, and restart Winamp.

Note: This plugin requires iTunes/QuickTime to be installed.


Thanks,

Thomas

[ThomasW]

12 people downloaded the new plugin, noone complained, so I guess the plugin works
It can now be found on the Winamp plugin page.

Thanks for testing it!

[electricmime]

maybe it totally destroyed their computers, and now they cant get on the message board to complain

[ThomasW]

Oh my god!!
I didn't think of that!

[Kickboy12]

That's why we have people like electricmime

[hans-jürgen]

Hi Thomas, I just found the threads about your plugins by chance with Google when looking for "m4b audio book", and now I wonder how exactly your plugins work. When I downloaded the attachment in this thread, the zipped EXE installer unpacked an in_tunes.dll, and the older version from Nov 2003 an in_zm4a.dll (probably the one with the memory leak). So these are both the same except for the version number and name, right? Do they use any source code from FAAD2, or is the actual decoding still done through the combination of the Nullsoft in_mp4.dll and in_mp3.dll? Your plugin only plays *.m4p and *.m4b files, and *.m4a files e.g. ripped with Winamp's AAC codec or other apps are also played with Nullsoft's DLLs, if the Audiocoding.com plugin is not installed?

The reason I'm asking is that I got interested in *.m4b files recently, because they can be encoded with FAAC and any application supporting its command line version, e.g. foobar2000's CLI interface or Audiograbber and CDex. Now I'm looking for players that can decode these files besides iTunes, since foobar2000 cannot do this yet, and the Audiocoding.com in_mp4.dll neither.

[loosegroove]

Hello, I have a question on how to use this plugin.

I want to use this plugin in an application but I can not get the plugin to work outside of WinAmp.

If I use WinAmp and open an iTunes Music Store (ITMS) file using this plugin, the song plays just fine. However, if I use the plugin in an application using the plugin, the song does not play.

I even try to use the program called "Winamp Input plugins example for BassWinAmp" and when I point the app to the WinAmp plugins directory, the in_tunes.dll plugin does not appear and it does not let me play ITMS files. I can play other audio files but not these.

I do have iTunes installed and it is authorized.

Thanks for the help.

[Andreas E.]

Heh ...
Well, this took a long time until I finally got a *.m4? file in my hands. (FWIW, it's Orwell's "1984" audio book in GERMAN version.)

It had a *.m4b ending, but it wasn't assigned. As I'm a guy eager to do some experiments, I did not assign but - just for test! - renamed it to *.m4a - and voilà, it WORKED! (lol)

(BTW: I do NOT have Thomas' plug-in installed but I'm merely using bog-standard winamp 5.08d. )

Well, I can't help it - it just worked.
The reason is simple: it *DID* prove to be a .M4A file, when looking at it with a hex editor:

....ftypM4A....M4A.mp42isom .... etc.


So everybody (especially Hans-Jürgen!), be bothered to just check the file with a hex editor - maybe it's not true .M4B, but simply got a wrong extension!

[DJ Egg]

Not if you purchase them from iTunes Music Store, which is what this plugin was originally designed for. All iTMS files are encrypted/protected .m4p crap.

[DoJe]

Ok so I hope that no one minds me bringing this back up. But I am a bit confused. OK I'm not buying my .m4p's from iTunes. I RIPPED THEM FROM WINAMP PRO 5.08e. I selected the MP4 AAC v1.0 selection to rip to from winamp. Does this mean that as WINAMP rips in this format WINAMP then doesn't recognize it?? Should I just be ripping in the RAW AAC v1.0?? Do both of these versions have the same ID3 taggin features? I personally am looking into ripping all new music to .mp4 because isn't it just a better version of .MP3????

I hope that this makes sense.

Thanx in advance for your help,
-DoJe

[ivand67]

BTW guys I wouldn't even bother with these plug-ins.

If you get anything off of iTunes, there's an app called JHymn that gets rid of the DRM and converts .M4P to WAV and then automatically to MP3.

It does it quick too.

http://hymn-project.org/jhymndoc/

[DJ Egg]

Originally posted by DoJe
OK I'm not buying my .m4p's from iTunes. I RIPPED THEM FROM WINAMP PRO 5.08e. I selected the MP4 AAC v1.0 selection to rip to from winamp. Does this mean that as WINAMP rips in this format WINAMP then doesn't recognize it?? Should I just be ripping in the RAW AAC v1.0?? Do both of these versions have the same ID3 taggin features? I personally am looking into ripping all new music to .mp4 because isn't it just a better version of .MP3????

This has got nothing to do with iTMS protected M4P files
and therefore you don't even need this plugin.

Winamp supports M4A (MP4 Audio) playback, straight out of the box. That's assuming you didn't uncheck support for it in the installer options, and that in_mp4.dll is present in the winamp\plugins folder.

MP3 and MP4 are two entirely different formats.
MP4 is NOT an updated version of MP3.
MP4 is just a container (like AVI or OGM).
The MP4 container can contain audio (usually aac) and/or audio & video.
MP4 doesn't use ID3 tags, though it does have its own tagging standard.
Raw AAC has no tagging standard, but Winamp uses id3 tags for it, 'cos it can :/

(something like that anyway, heh)

The Nullsoft in_mp4.dll is just a demuxer. This means that all it does is send the files in the MP4/M4A container to the relevant decoder. Winamp's MP4 AAC and Raw AAC Encoders both rip to Dolby lc-aac format, the only difference being that one is raw aac, and the other is raw aac in an mp4/m4a container.
The actual default AAC decoder in Winamp is the Nullsoft in_mp3.dll
So, if you've maybe installed some 3rd-party MP3 Decoder (eg. in_mpg123, in_mp3pro, or in_mad) then it's possible that you've disabled in_mp3.dll and therefore you no longer have any AAC playback support.

If relevant, then your options here are:

1) uninstall the 3rd-party mp3 input plugin, and restore the nullsoft in_mp3.dll

2) keep said 3rd-party mp3 plugin and install the 3rd-party Audiocoding in_mp4.dll.
With Winamp closed, unzip in_mp4.dll to the Winamp\Plugins dir (backup the Nullsoft in_mp4 first), then open Winamp and go to:
Prefs > Plugins > Input > Audiocoding.com MPEG-4 Player... (in_mp4.dll) > config
and checkmark "use for aac"


impo, MP4/M4A/AAC is badly overrated, and Lame_Enc --alt-preset standard mp3 is still the better option . . . or even better to use Ogg Vorbis or FLAC

The only AAC format I've been impressed with so far is AacPlus, but only from a streaming aspect (ie. high(er) quality at low bitrates).

[Edit --> Dec 2005]
Well, if gameplaya's gonna roll his eyes at me & quote me from 7 months ago (see below), I might as well post an update... I'm actually a lot more impressed with CodingTech's High Bitrate AAC/M4A Encoder, but that's a different story, heh.

[75th Trombone]

I recently updated to Winamp 5.09. I also recently updated to Quicktime 7. Now the iTunes plugin doesn't work. It acts like it's playing the file, the track progress bar ticks along normally, but there's zero volume.

Any idea what the problem is there?

Thanks,
SFT

[Ylixia]

Originally posted by 75th Trombone
I recently updated to Winamp 5.09. I also recently updated to Quicktime 7. Now the iTunes plugin doesn't work. It acts like it's playing the file, the track progress bar ticks along normally, but there's zero volume.

Any idea what the problem is there?

Thanks,
SFT

Same problem here - if I'd read this post yesterday I wouldn't have updated QT

m4p tracks do still play, they're just ridiculously quiet. Due to the way I have my hifi wired up my Winamp volume is normally set at around 10%. I have to up it to 100% when playing m4p tracks and even then they're still not as loud as mp3 at 10% volume

[fuzzyhair]

yes it works, the last one skipped and popped for me. Im glad this one is perfect. Thankyou