When I convert to AAC with Foobar2000 and the newest version of Nero Digital Audio (1.1.34.2) the files will not play on my iPod Shuffle (2nd generation). iTunes can play them fine, and when I use an older version of Nero Digital Audio (1.0.7.0) it also works on the iPod.

Does anyone know what causes this problem and if there is a work-around for it?

Uh-oh! I've got the same issue with my 2nd generation shuffle. I have a 1st generation 30G iPod that can play the newer files, so would this be a firmware issue?

After searching around, I found this page from Apple. I wonder what changed in the Nero encoder that broke things...

Does this happen with all settings (LC,HE,HEv2) ?

muaddib, yes, as far as I can tell. I had originally just used LC, but I've now tested with HE and HEv2 as well. But no luck there either. All settings work with 1.0.7.0.

Thank you for reporting this. We will check what is the problem as soon as possible.

Thanks very much! I only use LC (-q 0.35), but can test the others if needed.

Maybe try if the optimise option of mp4creator helps in any way?

I visited the MPEG4IP download page, but it looks like only source code is offered?

Where can I download mp4creator for win32?

Try using the Optimize MP4 utility in Foobar2000. If you don't have the option, reinstall Foobar2000 and do a Full install. Just right-click the files and select Utils and click Optimize MP4.

Thanks for that. I didn't even know fb2k had that!

I ended up finding the compile through an old link to it at rarewares. Optimizing it did allow the file to be played on the shuffle.

Ok thanks. That already helps a lot, I will try to figure out what is the exact problem. AFAIK the files we encode come out "optimised", so something else in our mp4 library must be causing this.

What exactly does "optimize" mean here?
OK, found it myself. FB2K says: "Puts tagging data at the beginning of specified mp4 files and strips away any unused blocks"

Indeed, but the data we write is already at the beginning of the file, so there must be something else in our files that cause this.

Was this problem ever solved?

Sorry, lost this thread somehow
Well, we did some testing and it seems that the iPod Shuffle (2nd generation) only reads MP4 descriptor (some sort of info blocks inside a mp4 file) sizes that are written in 4 bytes. We always write the minimal amount of bytes.
We are checking if we should just write it in 4 bytes always also.
Seems the only affected device is the 2nd generation iPod Shuffle.

I am having the same problem. I have used the "optimize mp4 layout" on FB2K but the files will still not play on my shuffle (2nd generation). Can anyone suggest anything else to try?

Did you make sure to force the encoder to use the low complexity profile (-lc) in your command line? The iPod Shuffle 2nd Gen won't play HE-AAC even if it's been optimized.

Yes, all files are lc (-q 0.5).

The same thing happens to me...

Any idea of when a new version of Nero AAC encoder is coming? Until then, should we use version 1.0.7.0 instead of 1.1.34.2 + OptimizeMP4?

Thanks.

I came across this post while researching the same problem. I just bought two 2nd Generation iPod Shuffles and found that AAC files created with Nero AAC Encoder 1.1.34.2 would not play on them. I tried the Optimize feature of Foobar2000 - no luck. Same thing with a similar feature in Mp3Tag.

After more searching I found this troubleshooting page for the Roku Soundbridge network music player:

http://www.rokulabs.com/support_sb_ts_playback.php

In the item about AAC files locking up it references a command line utility that is part of the mpeg4-ip utilities available at RareWares.org.

http://www.rarewares.org/files/mp4/mpeg4ip...s-1.4.15cvs.zip (Windows version)

I wanted a command line utility since I have automated the conversion of my FLAC files to AAC. I downloaded the tools, used the command "mp4creator -optimize file.m4a" and the files now play just fine on the Shuffle! Yeah!! Now I don't have to re-encode my 5,000 FLAC files with another encoder. Decided to post this solution here in case anyone else encounters the same problem.

You could also use Nero 8.3.2.1, for example the Encode Files dialog, to encode, the encoder included with this version has the problem solved.
(shortcut: Nero.exe -Dialog:EncodeFiles)

The Optimize feature of dBpowerAMP Music Converter did work for me!


-Has Nero 8.3.2.1 the same core as in free encoder v1.1.34.2?
-Any idea of when an updated version of the free CLI encoder will be released?
-Are these issues also fixed in Nero 8.3.2.1?

Thanks!

List of bug fixes can be found here: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....mp;#entry553898


This year It is very hard to tune high bitrates, because there are not many people that can hear problems there. But yet, we don't want to release a version where again somebody would appear and notice some problem which didn't exist in previous versions.


Those issues are not fixed in Nero 8.3.2.1, but also have in mind that there are some quality issues in February release which sound better in August version, like these:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....mp;#entry554993

Thanks muaddib for your explanations

So (please correct me if I'm being too simple), should we use Feb version for classical music and Aug version for other music styles?

Is there any way to use the encoder in 8.3.2.1 via command line, so I can use it in Foobar2000?

Quick question for the Nero Digital developers: it seems like iTunes encoded AAC files play on every AAC-compatible device (iPod / Xbox / Zen / etc). Nero AAC sometimes does not because of the file header which is slightly different (right?).

Isn't it possible to let Nero AAC generate files with exactly the same file header structure as iTunes does? This should solve all problems.

I believe an updated version of Nero's AAC encoder will be coming out over the next couple of months and it should fix all these Xbox 360 and Creative Zen issues. So I think they solved their issues on that front. I am not sure what they did though. I don't know if it was the actual encoder or just the header information. Either way the problem is solved.

I encourage usage of August version so that we can find all problems that it introduces and fix it in the next release. February version will not be developed anymore and it also has some flaws (including quality related) which were fixed in August version.


kornchild2002 gave the answer

Thanks guys. At least I could buy a Zen now (if money is sufficient) and enjoy Nero AAC in the near future.

No. At least not for now.

Yep, I have my lossless library just waiting to be encoded using Nero's AAC encoder. Right now I am just carrying around the lossless files on my 16GB iPod touch which means that it has about 450 songs on it. I would much rather be listening to 2000+ songs encoded with Nero AAC. Then my 4GB Zen can get some use and my 30GB Halo 3 Zune will be permanently hooked up to my Xbox 360 with about 20GB worth of music encoded with Nero AAC.

Just waiting for the time to come. I have waited this long so another month or so is nothing. At least the Nero developers were nice enough to come on these forums and recognize that there was a problem. Now Sony needs to get off their asses and make it so that the PS3 can read Apple AAC tags. They did that with the PSP so the PS3 should be next. Then my Nero AAC files can be properly read on every single media device that I have from consoles, home audio, and portable audio.