I just came from the project page of FAAC and see that FAAC was updated to 1.25 and that FAAD2 was updated to 2.5 this is the changelog:

FAAC 1.25: Small bug fixes since last version
FAAD 2.5: Big amount of bugfixes

the last version was from 2004, in 2 years only bugfixes.....

Well I'm just waiting that john33 update his compiles in rarewares specifically CoreAAC and in_mp4 for Winamp to the lastest version of FAAD

That's good to hear... it's kind of disconcerting when software goes for two years without an update, so it's good to see it's being kept up with.

IMHO FAAC needs much more than just bugfixes...

I've just downloaded the sources. I'll see what I can do for you tomorrow.

What else do you expect?

Is there a changelog for FAAD2.5?

He was prolly referring to the encoder.

CoreAAC 1.2.0.575-2 (2006-08-13)
http://ffdshow.faireal.net/mirror/Misc/Cor...1.2.0.575-2.exe

CoreAAC 1.2.0.575-3 (2006-08-16)
http://ffdshow.faireal.net/mirror/Misc/Cor...1.2.0.575-3.exe

Edit:Hmm, this complile use FAAD2 2.1beta not 2.5. Please be careful.

I can't decode multi-channel aac audio with the last faad2 release. All I get is:

*********** Ahead Software MPEG-4 AAC Decoder V2.5 ******************

Build: Aug 14 2006
Copyright 2002-2004: Ahead Software AG
http://www.audiocoding.com
Floating point version

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

**************************************************************************

audio.mp4 file info:

LC AAC 127.470 secs, 6 ch, 48000 Hz

tool: Nero AAC codec / May 26 2006

0% decoding audio.mp4.
Warning: Bitstream value not allowed by specification
Warning: Bitstream value not allowed by specification
Warning: Bitstream value not allowed by specification
Warning: Bitstream value not allowed by specification
Warning: Bitstream value not allowed by specification

The file was created with neroAacEnc.

With MP4Box I get this info from the file:

[iso file] Box has 40 extra bytes
* Movie Info *
Timescale 1000 - Duration 00:04:11.200
Fragmented File no - 1 track(s)
File Brand mp42 - version 0
Created: GMT Tue Aug 15 18:26:17 2006

File has root IOD
Scene PL 0xff - Graphics PL 0xff - OD PL 0xff
Visual PL: No visual capability required (0xff)
Audio PL: No audio capability required (0xff)
No streams included in root OD

Chapters:
Chapter #1 - 00:00:00.097 - ""

iTunes Info:

Track # 1 Info - TrackID 1 - TimeScale 48000 - Duration 00:04:15.187
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "soun" - Sub Type "mp4a" - 5981 samples
MPEG-4 Config: Audio Stream - ObjectTypeIndication 0x40
MPEG-4 Audio AAC LC - 6 Channel(s) - SampleRate 24000 - SBR SampleRate 48000
Self-synchronized

The only changes made to libfaad2 since http://ffdshow.faireal.net/mirror/Misc/Cor...1.2.0.575-2.exe were to the version string.

A non-crippled license? Advertisement clause in the latest license is against GPL.

Then, simply, don't use it and enjoy the world of GPL freedom without the bad guys stirring it.

The multi-channel problem is solved if the lib is build without "--with-drm".

Ah yes, good, --with-drm should only be used when you are actually compiling a DRM decoder.

In current form distributing new faad2 is illegal[1], so its not a matter of personal taste.

[1] Much like cdrtools, http://lwn.net/Articles/195167/

the sourcecode is still buggy……

Thanks for the bug report

Perhaps not GPL compliant, but certainly not illegal.

Yeah, not illegal, but... I think the FSF would rather that they didn't claim the license to be "GPL". In the GPL faq they say that you can modify the license as long as you remove the preamble and call it something else.

Personally I agree that nero / audiocoding can do whatever they want with their software and licenses, but they should follow the FSF's terms and conditions if they expect us to follow their terms and conditions. This kind of thing is one of the big reasons for GPLv3; they are tired of people trying to do "GPL with a new restriction". It will now be clear that you can add more freedoms to the license, but you can't take them away.

Stallman, quoted from Groklaw, quoted from the GPLv3 conference in Barcelona:

Guess only a lawyer can decide, but I rather wish if they at least abandoned GPL and create their own NPL or whatever.

Anyway, this is probably why there is this task:
http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=..._Summer_Of_Code

That task doesn't differ much from "copy FAAD2 and name it differently" if they base it on that info from multimediawiki. You could hardly call that independant.
And anyway, it would still suck. Better get the real AAC specification at hand if you want to write a new AAC decoder.

True, that was the #1 motivation, even an MPlayer developer created a buggy , half working AAC decoder even before that. But as Menno says they need AAC spec. first.

Agree, especially when I read things such as " FAAD refers to another profile named LD, possibly the same as SRS".
Multimediawiki is quite strange regarding AAC decoding. Instead of describing FAAD2 in an algorithmic way, it would probably have been wiser to use the standard algorithmical description, and explain tricky parts based on understanding from FAAD/FAAD2/3GPP.