[mythtv-users] aac/m4a playing

Chris Wieringa cwieri39 at calvin.edu
Fri Apr 16 08:31:38 EDT 2004


>>>> dlsnyder2 at comcast.net 4/16/2004 3:29:14 AM >>>
>Ok so I know I can't rip to m4a/aac formats from a CD but I'm kinda 
>disappointed that I can't even listen to my m4a encoded songs that I 
>got from iTunes.
>
>Anyone know how to do it.  What music player does knoppmyth use?  Does 
>that player have an add-on to allow m4a's or can I switch the player so 
>that I can use m4a's???

The iTunes store encrypts purchased songs for DRM purposes.  AFAIK, there are
no clients for Linux that follow the DRM that is imposed on purchased songs (or
can even decrypt them to play them).  Unless Apple ( or Fairplay, the DRM
technology provider ) release code that would allow for such an integration
into a Linux music player (in this case MythMusic) it is doubtful that it will
ever happen legally.

However, lately there has been a project called Playfair that touts the
ability to remove the encryption from a song purchased through iTunes.  It was
being hosted on sourceforge, however, after a legal complaint from Apple it was
pulled from the site.  The end goal of this project is to provide a decrypted
music file that can be played in other applications that support them.  IANAL,
but it seems to me that this is a violation of your terms of use with the music
you downloaded from iTunes and is illegal under the DMCA.

One possible expansion to MythMusic would be the ability to playback
aac/m4a/mp4 files.  I believe that using the FAAD v2.0 libraries this should be
able to be integrated into MythMusic ( http://faac.sf.net ).  I personally
would like to see this ability integrated into MythMusic, as it is a better
compression algorithm overall and I'd like to start converting my CDs to
aac/m4a/mp4.

Chris Wieringa
cwieri39 at calvin.edu


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