[mythtv-users] m4a / aac audio support

[Chris Petersen]

> Is there anyway to rip a cd to aac (also known as m4a)???  This is the 
> format that the iTunes Music Store uses and I find it to be superior to 
> mp3.

with mythmusic, I don't know.  but you can do it in linux with
http://faac.sourceforge.net/

Unfortunately, aac is a proprietary, licensed format, so if myth were to
include this support, we'd have to start paying royalties and/or it
couldn't be distributed legally in binary form.

The other issue is that apple uses id3v2 tags in a nonstandard way with
aac files to create the mp4 files (not exactly a standard aac file), and
there is nothing yet in linux (that I know of) that can read or write
these tags.

Ogg Vorbis and aac are pretty close as far as quality goes, and iTunes
can play the files just fine with a MacOSX quicktime plugin available at
http://www.illadvised.com/~jordy/ - qtcomponents.sf.net has one for
windows, but it sucks).

I'd LOVE to see a good m4a encoder/tagger for linux so I don't have to
rip my ogg files to mp3 and THEN convert them to aac so they play nicer
on my ipod.

-Chris