Apple m4a won‘t play

[AnimalOnDrums]

Hey,
I did a search and it appears that this is a known issue that has been discussed on this forum:

Roon does not read ACC files

Few Radio stations are actually working on Roon Live Radio. Some MP3 lines do, while ACC lines do not. I’m receiving messages saying that a file could not be loaded. For example, this is happening with Radio Canada Ici Musique, a Montreal-based radio station. a local radio station. The same is happening with BBC and Radio France stations. I’ve read the February exchanges on Roon community on this topic, to no avail. Also, I’ve downloaded an ACC file from TIDAL (Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla - Music…

It looks like this thread has some answers:

Roon Server on QNAP QTS 4.5.1 Situation

Hi everybody, I have been working hard on a workaround for the ffmpeg issue on QNAP NAS with QTS 4.5.1 and will forward the update to QNAP. It has an option to manually add ffmpeg to a folder in the specified database shared folder. You’re more thanwelcome to give it a test. Feedback is really appreciated (preferably as a PM). Link removed. → The Update is now available in the QNAP App Center. You need to download a static build of ffmpeg manually (you can find good build for example on J…

The issue has to do with the QNAP software/firmware because they use an ffmpeg file that does not support .m4a AAC audio files. The fix seems to be replacing the QNAP’s ffmpeg file with a new one.

Also, the QNAP support page https://www.qnap.com/en-us/app_releasenotes/list.php?app_choose=RoonServer also states “- ffmpeg can no longer be provided in the Roon Server web UI. Instead it can be copied in the /RoonOnNAS/bin directory. When ffmpeg has been manually provided before, it will automatically be migrated to this new folder.”

Also, any AAC files purchased from iTunes in 2009 or 2010 and before have DRM protection and can only be played on apple devices. I would first try playing newer purchased AAC files before doing anything else.