Workaround for iTunes Plus files on TiVo

See this fix also:

http://novashare.net/656072

maybe the same fix for the N95 will work here too http://techtransit.blogspot.com/2007/06/putpinfinitsplace-itunes-plus-fixer-for.html
The audio isn't touched so no quality issues.

One more from me. You can fix this without needing to convert your music if you've got Apple's Developer Tools installed and your not averse to editing a line of Java code. Directions are at my blog.

http://raoli.com/2007/06/07/adding-itunes-support-to-tivo/

Definitely a TiVo issue. TiVo's only transcoding certain file types, probably to prevent somebody from getting garbage spewed out of their speakers due to a bad conversion or something. They need to add "Purchased AAC audio file" to the list.

BTW, this string is pulled from you ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music Library.xml file. When I changed "Purchased AAC audio file" to "AAC audio file," the file I changed played (after I restarted TiVo Desktop). There was some stuttering, but that could be cause my computer's pretty old.

Well, the two year old auto-conversion trick doesn't work. I assume most of you know that already.

The SoundConvert utility that TiVo uses to do the transcoding will process the new files. I was able to run it on the commandline with an iTunes+ file and the resulting MP3 sounds fine, at least in my highly limited testing.

I don't know why they don't auto convert the files. Perhaps a TiVo Desktop update would fix this. The last update was last May and was primarily for Intel support. It wouldn't surprise me if the next release doesn't come until Leopard ships.

i wonder is this tivo not seeing the files right or is it apple tagging them as DRM. i mean these are supposed to be free of DRM hassles that was the point. either apple or tivo needs to fix that whoevers at fault.

Two+ years ago, it was reported that TiVo Desktop would auto-transcode unprotected AAC files if you installed lame.

http://www.macgeekery.com/node/91

Didn't try this then, haven't tried it with any iTunes+ files. Might be worth checking out.

has anyone tried just renaming the m4a to aac?

on my nokia 6270, when i initially copied over the an itunes plus m4a file, the media player on the phone recognized it was a media file and added it to a play list, but wouldn't play it.

simply renaming it to an aac extension is all it took for my series40 nokia 6270 to play an itunes plus file. i'm betting it's just that simple for a S60 phone.

> It seems that the iTunes+ file has only some tags in additional, like account name, that most players don't understand and refuse to play.

There are some "atoms" in the metadata that haven't been used before.

It would be interesting to remove the metadata--give the files a "metaEnema" with Atomic Parsley--and see if the Tivo would play them then.

http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/

> Same problem on the Nokia N95 - the ITs+ files won't play without being > converted.

> What's up with that [?]

It's probably the bitrate. The capability of phones for audio-file playback usually falls within a narrow--and lowish--bitrate. Why would anyone encode at over, say, 128kbps to playback on a device with such limited storage space as most phones have? And how were the phone manufacturers to know that bitrates on downloads were to go up, because Apple had a deal with EMI in the pipeline?

> I though the whole point was that these files should be DRM free

They are. There were copy-protection on them, you couldn't have copied them, could you?

> and the N95 plays regular AAC files just fine.

These are "regular" AAC files. Again: what bitrate?

> Comon' Apple - FIX IT !!

Or "Come on, Nokia, fix it", perhaps?

The Tivo problem, seems to be different, judging by the error message. Perhaps the Tivo is looking at the metadata--it's certainly not going by the file extension, which is the same as for any other non-protected iTunes AAC file, namely .m4a. A question for Erica perhaps?