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Posted by retiro on Sep-26-2006 18:29:

M4P to MP3

Hi guys,

Please don't slap me down as a search didn't answer the question I have.

Basically, I bought a download off iTunes. This is the first time I have used this service whereas I usually use Audiojelly and Beatport.

I didn't realise that iTunes use their own compression format; M4P/MPEG4. Being ignorant to this and used to MP3 320KB I downloaded anyway. What I did was (a little naughty) I played the M4P tune using quicktime and recorded the sound through Sound Forge from my soundcard as a wav file, then I compressed to MP3 320KB.

Not really understanding the different compression formats. All I want to know is, through this process as the quality of the compression been degraded? I can't actually hear much difference, if any.

Kind regards

Steve

Posted by Synchronicity on Sep-26-2006 18:41:

I've done this before as well and also heard no difference. I think as long as you keep it as a wav or 320 mp3 it'll be fine.

Posted by retiro on Sep-26-2006 18:53:

Thank you for your reply!

Posted by Synchronicity on Sep-26-2006 19:24:

No problem!

In terms of the sound degradation, there is some going on but it's so little it's unnoticable (as we've both found).

A lot of people get annoyed at the m4p compatibility limits, and rightly so. This is the only way round it from what I've seen.

Posted by retiro on Sep-26-2006 20:03:

The quality is fine until Bonzai sort themselves out! The tune in question is a classic in my opinion, Cape Town 'Pit Stop'! I have emailed Bonzai twice asking to get them put up on a decent download portal ie Beaport or Audiojelly as previously mentioned. Despite false promises they have yet to appear. The did say however they the tune was on iTunes, thats were the story began!

Like you say the restrictions of M4P are very off putting!

Posted by thesuperfunk on Sep-26-2006 20:06:

Re: M4P to MP3

quote:
Originally posted by retiro
What I did was (a little naughty)

not really ... you paid for it afterall!

Posted by Arudius on Sep-26-2006 20:40:

maybe it's just me...but isn't the extension .M4P an iTunes Music Store purchased song extension?

Posted by retiro on Sep-26-2006 21:35:

quote:
Originally posted by thesuperfunk
not really ... you paid for it afterall!

Well, some would say that doing what I have done is an infringement of the license and copyright.

quote:
Originally posted by Arudius
maybe it's just me...but isn't the extension .M4P an iTunes Music Store purchased song extension?

Yes, an M4P file is a MPEG4, which is used by iTunes.

Posted by Vizay on Sep-26-2006 23:20:

mp4 (part 14) is (unlike the mp3 format) a kind of multi-container easily described. It can contain both video and audio (and possibly some other mediaformats too, haven't gone into depth on this matter since it really doesn't have any relevance to the initial post) and if I'm not totally incorrect it supports DRM to a certain extent.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp4

the mp4 soundformat in detail, mp4 (part 3), seems to be able to use some different formats for it's encoding.
MPEG-1 Layers I, II, III (MP3), MPEG-2/4 (HE)-AAC, Vorbis (with privat objectTypeIndication), Apple Lossless
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp4

So the chances that the mp4 you bought already is an mp3 (well, more or less anyway ) is probably quite high. If you convert it to an mp3 with 320kbps quality you shouldn't have any problems with the quality.

A thing that could cause a quality problem tho could be your soundcard when you record it like you do. I'm not 100% shure about it though so you might want to check it out further if you wanna know more about it.

Posted by retiro on Sep-27-2006 10:43:

Thanks Vizay, some interesting reading!

Posted by T-Soma on Sep-27-2006 12:18:

An app like tunebite would help.
It dubs the file at 4x speed. Without having to leaving your computer, so no dac.

Posted by skot_e on Sep-27-2006 12:27:

quote:
Originally posted by retiro
Well, some would say that doing what I have done is an infringement of the license and copyright.

Technically, all you did was back the file up, which is ok.

Posted by T-Soma on Sep-27-2006 12:58:

I-Tunes allows you to make 3 cd copies of the file. I think it is illegal according to I-tunes but thats pretty crap. I had to convert files I baught off there so I could use them in my mixing app.