Apologies if this is not the best place for this query but I have a load of audio books in M4A format which is apparently better than MP3 but doesn’t play in Roon.
I’m loath to convert them all to MP3 because of any loss of quality but I don’t know what else I might do for the best. (I also don’t really know how to tell what quality M4As they are, assuming there’s a sliding scale of quality choice for M4As the way there is for an MP3.)
Is there any kind of extension or plug in I can get that will allow Roon to work with them on my Mac?
If not, what would be the best file format to convert them to? I tried converting one to a 320 bit MP3 & also to a FLAC file (which obviously wouldn’t then be suddenly lossless but it might avoid further compression) and I opened them in Audacity. There were clear differences in the spectrogram.
Is converting them all to FLAC a viable option, just to make them playable?
m4a is just a container format, so it by itself doesn’t mean anything. However, if it’s sold lossy it’s almost certainly AAC, which is better than MP3. So, it would be wise to know what format is within and then people can advise the best course of action.
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AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
4
I believe dbPoweramp should be able to convert them all to flac.
Not tried it but I know it converted some mp3 to flac for myself.
That is one of my questions. Is there a codec I can install on my Mac to solve the issue?
If they were books being read, I might be able to live with that but these are all Doctor Who full cast audio adventures full of sound effects & music, so I don’t mind jumping through a few hoops to keep the quality up if necessary.
Space is not really an issue so if a codec is not available, FLAC conversion might be the quickest way forward failing any better suggestions.
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
11
One thing I really liked about dbpoweranp was that you get an option to keep your files in original format as well.
So it really makes a “copy” of your files in another format rather than just a straight conversion.
Others likely can do the same do
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Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
12
Well, you can always make a copy yourself before beginning the conversion.
Agreed. If you do care about the space you could convert an album to lossless (flac, alac, whatever) and convert back - on your Mac XLD should be able to do that without problem - and see if the resulting files are more to Roon’s liking.
To be fair, I’m being slightly facetious. I did manage to download something which resulted a folder called ffmpeg. Of course, I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with it. The readme file sheds no light whatsoever and every page I find that explains how to install it includes the words “open a terminal” which is the point where I leave.
What OS are you using? At the top of the ffmpeg download page there are links to packages for Windows and Mac OS. However, if you never used CLI tools before, ffmpeg might be a bit of a challenge.
There are links but behind the Apple logo there is only one link. Honestly, though, if I’m not just double-clicking on a DMG file or dragging an icon of the new app to an icon of the Applications folder, I’m probably not going to take the risk.
m4a is anything apple. It can be ALAC, it can also be AAC. I use XLD to transcode them to FLAC. It is a very good tool to rip/convert music on Apple. In general Roon does recognise m4a. If have tons of them.
Where did you get them from? Apple Music? Did you buy them or just download? If they are downloaded, without buying, it could be, that they are DRM protected. Then you cannot listen to them outside of Apple Music.
I’m experimenting with a couple of methods at the moment, converting to FLAC & then back again (as suggested upthread), but I’ve noticed that some of the M4As are already visible in Roon & some aren’t.
Some are bought & some are downloaded, but that difference doesn’t seem to be consistent with what I’m seeing.
I’m using dBpoweramp for the conversions. I have XLD & tend to use it to Transcode the tracks out of an ISO file, but I find it a bit flakey. Sometimes you get a GUI interface & sometimes you don’t. (It’s probably me!) But dBp is rock solid so I’m going with that for the minute.
