Apple Lossless Encoder

In the latest iTunes 4.5 and iPod firmware 2.2 there is apparently support for the new Apple lossless codec. I'd be really happy if I could use Sveta to convert my APE files to this new codec as I'm copying them to my iPod. That way I wouldn't lose any quality. Any plans on supporting this? Thanks in advance.

--Aaron

[Spoon]

I have looked at encoding through Quicktime, but can only encode to Wave or AIFF, not even mp4 (non lossless)...it would need a codec to be written that can read and write Apple Lossless, and the Apple documentation is very vague.

[Spoon]

Well a week can change everything, a lossless decoder is now working and a lossless encoder should be finished soon.

[aragorn18]

That is awesome man. I'm leaving for Europe in a week and a half for two weeks and I'd love to have all of my APE files converted to the new codec so that I can enjoy my music losslessly while I'm there. Keep me updated.

Just wondering if there's an update on this?

(Translation: do I have to re-encode all my CD's??

Thanks

[Spoon]

An Apple Lossless decoder should be done in about 2 weeks (it is held up as mp4v2 tag library for mp4 files will not touch the apple lossless mp4, so I am having to write my own mp4 tag reader / writer ), the encoder will take longer because I have to learn about the mp4 container format and put the compressed data in myself, writing this codec is quite difficult.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally Posted by Spoon

An Apple Lossless decoder should be done in about 2 weeks (it is held up as mp4v2 tag library for mp4 files will not touch the apple lossless mp4, so I am having to write my own mp4 tag reader / writer ), the encoder will take longer because I have to learn about the mp4 container format and put the compressed data in myself, writing this codec is quite difficult.

My God you must have some patience. Learning about the MP4 container will be no easy task!

I must admit I'm not quite sure how Apple have managed to get the 'lossless' stream into the container in the first place. It's not exactly part of the MP4 container spec!

That said, with Apples lossless encodes only being able to be played via iTunes and the QuickTime player (and not even QuickTime Alternative). May I ask if the decoder you're working on be be DirectShow based so we can use it via any player?

This would be great implementation!

Maybe when you've finished learning all about MP4 you could work on an Audio and Video muxer

[Spoon]

It will not be DirectShow (havn't figured that one out yet, I need to...).

The problem is Apple have put these lossless in .m4a which means the standard mp4 dBpoweramp codec needs replacing, and the Apple one is not too fast (read 4 seconds to initialize the library, just niggles but I don't like it).

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally Posted by Spoon

...The problem is Apple have put these lossless in .m4a which means the standard mp4 dBpoweramp codec needs replacing...

Yes, this is a little odd. I wonder why they did'nt use .aiff ?

With regard to AAC streams in general, I've noticed that the .mp4 container/file extension is being superseded with .m4a or even .mp4a. I suppose it makes sense to clearly identify the audio and video (.m4v or .mp4v) in their own right!

I've noticed that there's a setting in Foobar to output Nero and other AAC streams with the .m4a extension instead of .mp4 which appears to work quite well.

I have to say I'm quite lucky because as an Sigma Xcard owner, I'm able to play all my AAC streams in hardware instead of software!


Cheers

Originally Posted by Aaron

In the latest iTunes 4.5 and iPod firmware 2.2 there is apparently support for the new Apple lossless codec. I'd be really happy if I could use Sveta to convert my APE files to this new codec as I'm copying them to my iPod. That way I wouldn't lose any quality. Any plans on supporting this? Thanks in advance.

--Aaron

I have the dBpowerAMP PowerPack installed in my computer for some time and it works perfect. Recently I bought an iPod and of course the iTunes software came along. Well what I'm getting is that I installed the Quicktime m4a encoder and with the Registered Quicktime 6.5 I'm able to encode to Apple Lossless using the dBpowerAMP. The only problem is the ID Tags gets lost and the Edit Tag doesn't work. Not even the pop up information where it says the lenght, size, etc. works. Will you be able to fix this problem?

Note: Can you tell me which codec is better wma lossless or apple lossless?

thank you for your time.
xtian72@hotmail.com

[Spoon]

When I have finished the apple lossless decoder it should allow reading and editing of lossless tags. Hopefully within 2 weeks.

WMA Lossless and AppleLossless pretty much are the same.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

...Can you tell me which codec is better wma lossless or apple lossless?

xtian72@hotmail.com

Yes, the differences between any of the lossless audio codecs will be far more difficult to tell than with the lossy codecs.

I quite like FLAC myself!


Cheers

[SeeMoreDigital]

Just wondered how are you getting on Spoon?

Any major problems?


Cheers

[Spoon]

The decoder is done (tag reading), having difficulties with the Quicktime API to write the tags back to the file (the quicktime api help is not very well written).

I will release the decoder tomorrow.

[neilh]

Bravo Spoon! I'm all set to give it a test run as soon as it's out!