| Art Alexion on 4 Jan 2007 15:14:39 -0000 |
|
On Thursday 04 January 2007 01:30, Matthew Rosewarne wrote: > On Wednesday 03 January 2007 14:05, Art Alexion wrote: > > 1. the amarok-xine engine has its problems, but it plays m4a files > > nicely. Hence, it is unnecessary. > > True, the only downside is that you have to install legally questionable > (read: "almost certainly illegal in the US") software which is not > available in any standard Linux distribution. To install an m4a codec you > would have to get the "faad" software from a non-official repository, and > probably extensions/replacements for GStreamer or Xine. I'm a lawyer by training. Theoretically, everything is "legally questionable" the same way that "anything is possible". Practically speaking, there shouldn't be a problem if the music files themselves are either purchased or legally distributed by the artist or label. > > > 2. If you convert from lossy m4a to lossy mp3, you will further degrade > > the sound quality. Think of multiple jpeg saves. > > Yes, although the reduction in quality would not be as great if a more > modern codec, such as ogg, were used. iPods don't play ogg files. Since getting an iPod, I regret the music I archived as ogg because I have to convert it (further degradation) to play on my iPod. There is a transcode script for amarok that can convert flac, ogg and mp3 to mp3 or aac on the fly while loading the iPod, but I find it (1) really slows the process of adding music to the iPod, and (2) clogs your home directory with additional transcoded copies of music that you already have in another (likely higher quality) format. > > > 3. Even if you convert to cda (audio CD format) the .cda file only has > > the data of the original m4a, and if you convert/rip the cda to mp3, you > > will lose even more. > > Converting to a CD will get you precisely nothing, don't waste time on it. > > > 4. I'm not sure of this last one, but I have heard that the software in > > the iPod itself converts mp3 to m4a/aac on the fly, and avoiding this > > conversion by loading m4a/aac files saves battery life. > > No, the iPod's audio chip is fully capable of playing mp3s, it would be > insanity to do it in software. Agreed. I had gotten this from the amarok-transcode script writer who made m4a the default format because he believed this. > > One important note: If the m4a files in your collection are from the > itunes music store, you will probably not be able to play them outside of > apple products unless you break the copy protection. The Windows/Mac > program called "JHymn" lets you do just that, but be aware that even > posessing it is illegal in the US. You might potentially be able to > circumvent (and possibly legally) the copy protection by burning the songs > to a CD and re-encoding them, but that depends on whether those songs will > allow you to do that, so you should probably just use JHymn. I've done this (burn to audio CD and then re-ripping) without a problem, but wouldn't do it without first trying faad because re-encoding entails quality degradation. > > On Wednesday 03 January 2007 16:48, Kevin Brosius wrote: > > Or try gtkpod, assuming you had a ipod as a reason to use iTunes. It > > can sync music between your computer and ipod device, and it seems like > > it plays music locally. > > Amarok has built-in support for managing music on iPods, so gtkpod > shouldn't be needed for that. Since version 1.4, amarak used the gtkpod code. -- _____________________________________________________________ Art Alexion PGP fingerprint: 52A4 B10C AA73 096F A661 92D2 3B65 8EAC ACC5 BA7A Keyserver: hkp://subkeys.pgp.net The attachment - signature.asc - is my electronic signature; no need for alarm. Info @ http://mysite.verizon.net/art.alexion/encryption/signature.asc.what.html _____________________________________________________________ Attachment:
pgpeSH3wBK0gh.pgp ___________________________________________________________________________ Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
|
|