Does anyone know any good software for Windows that includes FAAC or Core Audio (iTunes) True VBR Encoder? I am especially interested in converting my FLAC lossless files to high quality AAC for portable use. Unfortunately, Nero is not an option for me, because the way it's encoding AAC is not fully compatible with my Walkman music player.

Thanks in advance.

FAAC sounds like shit (I don't think it even has a psy model), and you'd be way better served using MP3.

The Apple one... you can't call it programatically from QuickTime for licensing reasons, but there are a few ways to automate iTunes from another application.

My OmniEncoder can concert FLAC to iTunes AAC, but apparenlty it stopped working with the last iTunes release and I don't have the code to fix it There is a command-line encoder (itunesencode?) floating around somewhere as well.

I will stay for now with Easy CD-DA Extractor's AAC encoder at 320 kb/s. It works fine with my Sony Ericsson W810i phone and outperforms iTunes AAC and FAAC encoders as well. I've also noticed that constant bitrate outperforms variable bitrate in most cases when using lossy audio compression schemes.

Isn't Easy CD-DA Extractor also just using FAAC?

Don't know what it's using, but it is better than iTunes 7.6.1.9. encoder at 320 kb/s and is fully compatible with my portable device. Easy CD-DA Extractor's encoder achieves almost the same results at 320 kb/s CBR as Nero at 300 kb/s VBR. It's a shame that you can't set this encoder to bitrates higher than 320 kb/s. I am comparing the encoders by simply burning m4a files to an Audio CD Image and then analyzing the frequencies with Tau Analyzer.

Read the TOS please. It has some stuff about making claims on encoder quality.

The only way to properly compare quality of encoders is to do your own listening test - double blind listening test.
Tau Analyzer is definitely not something that can be sued in this case. By your posts you are violating many HA TOS (or at least one).

LittleL you are making far too many assumptions about quality and not using any of the approved methods for making them.

Mainly double blind listening tests...you know what you are listening and therefore your results can easily be biased. There are also possible flaws in the extra steps you are taking to burn and then analyze CD.
JXL

Or in other words what he said....I was typing this up when he posted that.

Alright, i understand i am using strange methods in comparing audio quality, but can someone describe me how the file containing more imprecise waveform can sound better than file that represents almost identical copy of the uncompressed original?

Once you realize the that is ridiculous, the why becomes irrelevant, doesn't it?

I mean in terms of something you're hearing it makes no more sense talking about what the waveform looks like than it does what, say, the performer looks like. Appearance doesn't come into it.

Except that is for the sake of curiosity.

Why not just use an encoder that's been kept up-to-date, like Nero? Not that I suppose it matters what you use at that bitrate -- although you might want to avoid the particular product you mentioned if it really does violate someone's license. I know I would.

You do realize you're using a bitrate that severely limits how much you can get on that portable player for no benefit that's likely to be discernible to you? Apple doesn't even sell AAC encodings at bitrates greater than 256kbps, and I'd hazard a guess that bitrate was possibly only introduced for an extraneous reason. What I think likely is this. When Apple finally persuaded EMI to drop DRM, one suspects EMI feared they might lose money because of "piracy" of the new tracks and wanted higher prices to cover the eventuality, so the increased bitrate was thrown in to make the price increase on the "Plus" tracks more palatable.

Quite frankly, 256kbps AAC or 320kbps MP3 is as "insane" as anyone is ever likely to "need", and rather OTT for a portable.

In addition to what Menno said, I think that at high bitrates like 320, you are unlikely to notice any differences between iTunes, Nero or FAAC, unless you are using them on known problem samples or have come across such a sample yourself. Therefore, I would strongly encourage you to try an ABX test and determine if there really is an audible difference.

Nevertheless, I am more interested in your original problem. What version of Nero are you using, what encoder settings did you use, and what firmware does your W810i have? I ask because I've had no trouble playing Nero-encoded VBR AAC files on my W810i; even the tags show up perfectly, which is more than I can say for MP3 files.

My problem is that after several Nero encoded songs have been played on my W810i the playback stops and i cannot play the next song until i reboot the phone. I've used different bitrates and different Nero AAC encoders, but the problem stays the same. Also, there's another annoying bug - the m4a songs in the album are sorted descending when importing by drag & drop, so i need to drag & drop them descending to achieve the correct order. The firmware version of my phone is R4GC010.

Believe it or not, but i've just noticed the same bug with 192 kb/s iTunes encoded AACs. So only Extractor's encoded files do play fine. And yes, the differences between 192 and 320 are clearly audible. Will stay with 320 kb/s Extractor's encoded AAC's until i will find the solution for these problems. It's really kinda strange and annoying...

It would be nice if you could provide your blind ABX test results. Otherwise all statements regarding audio quality will be in violation of the TOS here.

Please lock and/or delete this thread. The guy just isn't getting the hints we're throwing at him...
JXL

Nero AAC and FAAC offers true VBR, Nero should produce a ISO MP4 cotainer AAC file, but the Feb 12 build does have some issues with some players. Anyway I could use MP4Box to re-create the MP4 container to a ISO ISMA compatable file or a iPod compatable MP4.

e.g

(iPod compat MP4 container)

MP4Box.exe -ipod Track1.mp4

(ISMA compat MP4 container)

MP4Box.exe -isma Track1.mp4

Also MP4Box makes the MP4 files more friendly on Linux.

You can use foobar to batch transcode your files to AAC by using Nero AAC onto a folder. And you could add a batch file to batch process your files trough MP4Box.

My iPod MP4 format batch process script.



Just make a batch with that code onto your temp transcode folder and place MP4Box.exe onto the WINDOWS folder. My AAC files i tired work fine on my PSP so they should work on your Walkman, but i heard the PS3 only supports 3GP tags.

Well sure if you use FAAC. Just use a modern encoder and that probably won't be the case.

Thank you guys for your responses but it seems that the only problem lies in firmware of my Sony Ericsson W810i phone. Today after playing even Extractor's encoded AAC's for about 2 hours my phone freezed suddenly when receiving incoming call and i wasn't able to answer it. I will likely stay with good old MP3 (it seems that there are at least no bugs with this codec's playback) until i will reflash my phone or find the solution to play AAC's properly. I apologize for any false statements I've made about AAC codec and encoders...

LittleL

For a compatible way to convert songs for SonyEricsson phones, I suggest using SonyEricsson Media Manager. (free standard version: here)

This software can convert Flac, Ogg, Wma files to AAC. I has been using it with W880i, it works very well, though kind of slow on starting up program. I do not know whether W810i is supported but I guess it doesn't hurt trying.

However, an annoying problem (for me) is this software does not allow you to edit tag nor it copies tag info from Flac files. You have to manually edit tag for those AAC files with another software, like, Mp3tag.

In case you do not know this yet, some SonyEricsson phones have trouble arranging music files if double digit is used in "TRACKNUMBER" field, for example "01", "02". The best way is to use single digit; "1", "2" for "TRACKNUMBER". Also, do not put totaltracknumber in, SonyEricsson phones cannot read it. Something like "1/12", "2/12" will make your song sorted in wrong order.

For all SonyEricsson phones, official guideline (@page 26) says they only support AAC-LC up to 192 kbps.
In my opinion, it's an overkill to encode songs at AAC 320 kbps anyway. Perceptible differences wouldn't present at that high bitrate.

[edit]
Since your phone also support HE-AAC v1, I suggest using it. HE-AAC v1 at 64-96 kbps give very good results. On my personal test, I cannot distinguish between HE-AAC v1 @80 kbps and original Flac file.

The program you suggested is 35 Megs. Most likely it will also put its junk all over the system directory. Kinda too much for AAC encoding.

Not to mention that it requires .NET 2.0 to be installed (which you have to download separately!).
I suggested that programs because I'm pretty sure that it will produces files that compatible with SonyEricsson phones. Though, I've never had problem using AAC files created with other softwares with my phone.

Personally, imo, Batchenc + neroAacEnc is the best way to encode AAC files.

Sorry I've taken a long time to reply, but I've been testing the phone all week after not using it for a long time. I have firmware R4EA031, and I haven't experienced either of the bugs you mentioned. However, I haven't imported songs by drag and drop as I lost the USB cable that came with the phone - the only way for me to put music on it is to take the memory stick out and use it in an external card reader.

I suggest you try a different firmware; I think mine may be carrier specific, so I'm not sure if it's available outside the United States. Be warned, however, especially if you use MP3 files too, that this firmware, and possibly others, has a nasty bug relating to tagging of MP3 files, which will cause MP3s to have the ID3 info severely concatenated (even more limited than ID3v1 tags).

Or you could just stick to an iPhone or an actual mp3 player....

This phone as most Sony digital players looks great and has good advertising and gimics to help sell it, but it falls far short of delivering.
JXL

Not sure whether anyone will care about this; perhaps LittleL if you've decided to stick with MP3.. the bug I was experiencing (which I've since confirmed on a variety of Sony Ericsson W810i firmwares) has nothing to do with ID3 tag version, but with album art. No album art results in all versions of ID3 tags being read properly, album art present results in severe truncation.