This thread has been replaced by a new updated one which adds new info to this topic. Check it out at:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....howtopic=17256&

Please POST THERE instead of here and let this thread fade out. Thanks!

This article about RealNetworks going to be supporting AAC as their default format on their new music service is very interesting:

http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5135382.html?tag=nefd_top

Now we get yet another wrapper format

Why doesn't everyone just support the MPEG 4 Audio wrapper format?

Now we will have Apple -> M4A, WinAmp -> Straight AAC, Nero -> .MP4, RealNetworks -> AAC wrapped in Helix format?

So much for an international MPEG 4 wrapper standard...

Hmm DRM based BS. What difference does it make if it uses AAC or not then unless someone cracks it

Someone will.

This is such a stupid problem. Every company wants to use AAC, but everyone also wants to use their own container formats.. this is sooo.. sooo.. Very annoying!

This will just make loads and loads of confusion and annoyance, especially amongst the "normal" users..

Just a little clarification:

MP4 and M4A are both the same MPEG4 container. Apple just decided to change the extension (!) to flag the files as audio only. A good idea if you ask me.

afaik there is no drm standard defined for the mp4 container!

apples system is also a "proprietary" one (based on mp4) and the files which uses it are named *.m4p!
maybe real will also use a mp4 based sytem, but from what i saw they use some *.rms files: http://www.realnetworks.com/products/drm/demos.html


exactly, tought i like the mp4 extension for both more

would be great if someone would write a small prog which would allow automatically playing of audio and video *.mp4 files in different players, as blacksun did with audio and video *.ogg (not ogm) files, find oggprak and sources here

http://www.crl.co.uk/projects/moses/

We can transmux all RealMedia content into matroska already, as mkvmerge has a real file reader. From there, muxing into MP4 is no problem .... maybe it will even work without the intermediate matroska step, as Gabest has made a nice RealSplitter filter for DirectShow, and with some modifications it could maybe be connected to the 3ivX MP4 muxer in Graphedit ...

yes, menno already told me about IPMP (the drm interface of the mpeg-4 standard)


i guess the drm system will prevent this

AFAIK FFmpeg supports demuxing of Real files and muxing of MOV and MP4. A possible alternative

I doubt FFmpeg would be able to read encrypted RM files, so I don't think there would be any way to remux the streams (be it 3ivX, Matroska, FFmpeg...) until someone manages to crack the DRM.

Aside from the DRM issues, it is welcome news that RealNetworks (RealAudio) will support the AAC format. Hopefully as more hardware and software manufacturers see this growing AAC/MP4 Audio support coming they will jump on the MP4 Audio bandwagon also!

See new thread I started which details the new RealPlayer with AAC/MP4 audio support in detail, including now supporting playback of Apple iTunes protected media (.M4P) files at:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....howtopic=17256&

Let this thread fade and start any replies over there. Thanks!

I very much doubt the DRM will be done on the stream/file level, as Real's stream format is well know, and they cant change it completely in order not to loose support for it in all real hadnling apps.

Therefore i assume the DRM is done on the block level, so the transmuxing would work fine, just the DRM would still be present and needed to be adressed in the decoders ....

Hmmm....

http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5135382.html



vs.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...tworks_music_dc

What a mess... :-X

I've tested.RA10 can convert to mka but It can't play and mkvmerge can't read this RA10-mka file