How to transcode Apple lossless (m4a)?

[hopeful]

Hello from a new user!
I really like subsonic, thank you for that!
But there's a thing about the transcoding of m4a (Apple Lossless) to mp3 on a Win 2003 Server. The default setting doesn't work for me, no sound...
The post http://forum.subsonic.org/forum/viewtop ... d431f85d04 led me here. I tried the m4a2mp3.sh-thing,

Try using this in the transcode:

m4a2mp3 %s %b

Create a shell script called m4a2mp3 with:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
song=$1
bitrate=$2

/var/subsonic/transcode/ffmpeg -i "$song" -f mp3 -ab $bitrate - 2>/dev/null

This will actually transcode pretty much anything into a mp3 that ffmpeg can read. Make sure you have ffmpeg in the transcode folder or change the script to reference the installed location.

but am I right that this is a code for linux? Is there an equivalent for windows? am I supposed to write s.th. like a .cmd file or else?

The log says "Transcoding failed. Using original."
Then a song is loading (I can see the progressbar moving),
but no playback is or can be started.

Server is on Windows Server 2003 EE,
Client Mac OSX 10.5.6.
ffmpeg.exe is in transcoding directory.

I would be very happy if I could listen to my lossless-files using Subsonic as well!

Sorry for the newbie-questions...
Thank you in advance.

[3R3]

have you tried to enable the transcoding for the specific player you are using? that was what had me thinking it didnt work, turned out it was just a not-so-intuitive setting. logged in as admin, go to settings > transcoding, for the transcoding you want to use, not only the "default" box has to be checked, but also the active box, while you are in the player you want to use (web player) i think. then as user, go to "settings > player" and enable the checkbox for the transcoding you want to use.

hope this helps

edit: i bumped this, because this kind of setting up the transcoding setting is just weird and totally non-intuitive! you would think when a transcoding is enabled by admin (default checkbox) that it is activated to. the intuitive way would be this: when default checkbox is on by admin, the transcoding is active by default for all players BUT can be disabled by the user, otherwise with no default checkbox checked, the transcoding is not even available.
this at least was what i (and many others from reading the forums) was expecting, and what lead me to believe that transcoding was somehow broken

[hopeful]

... this is unfortunately not the solution for my problem.
I already had all settings set like you proposed. I even unchecked and checked the checkboxes again, but nothing changed.

Maybe its in the codec. Because files with .m4a ending encoded with a wma-codec are successfully transcoded. A File with .m4a ending and Apple-Lossles-Codec encoded won't work.

Maybe someone will finally find the solution.
Until then I keep on transcoding my m4a-files to flac-files externally and then putting em back to the library, flac works like a charm.

Thank you!

[3R3]

well, since flac works, its probably no use asking if the encoders are properly installed (is faad.exe there) in "SUBSONIC_FOLDER\transcode"...however, i use 3.7 standalone under xp, and transcoding worked, apart from the settings mess, out of the box (with all transcoders from the codec pack in said directory). maybe that helps?

[mw]

Still looking for a non-bash way of transcoding Apple Lossless on a Windows7 install with Tomcat.

[Lozzy]

I'm trying the apple lossless thing using ffmpeg on Windows.

My entry in the transcode table is:
ffmpeg -i %s -f mp3
and my log reports:
[1/20/10 3:25:48 PM GMT] INFO PlaylistInputStream Lozzy listening to "_lossless\01 Clarion Call.m4a"

but there's nothing playing (using either winamp or the web player)

any clues as to what to do now please? Have I forgotten a switch somewhere?? Or I'm now thinking it might be a stdIO issue?

thanks
Lozzy

[jonmiz]

It seems this fix is for Mac, how would I do it on Windows XP? I downloaded ffmpeg.exe and installed it in my transcoder folder, but beyond that I am a little confused. I tried making a shell script, but honestly, I am not sure I really know what the hell I'm doing. Is this fix a Mac specific fix? I'd really appreciate some assistance.

Thanks!

[joseperez763]

Hi, I was wondering if someone could upload that shell script because I have no idea how to write one and this seems to be the only way to play apple lossless files. Thanks!

[BJMarsh]

The regular way to transcode m4a does not work (faad --> lame). To transcode apple lossless, you need something else, like xld or mplayer or ffmpeg (or something else?).

xld will transcode to wav, but I cannot get that program to pipe to stdout.

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

I asked the XLD guru to create a version that would send the output to the stdout device. He did and it works great. The nice thing is that XLD will to up to 192KHz 24 bit Apple Lossless files. I paid him for it but I don't know if he plans to make it a general release.