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m4p2mp4 For Mac OS X

rice_web

rice_web

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 25, 2001
584
0
Minot, North Dakota
The command-line m4p2mp4 program for converting iTunes music to simple .mp4 files has been available for Windows for some time now.

See the following: http://www.techfreaks.org/articles/faq.shtml

I want to know when we're getting that ported to Mac OS X. I personally took a look at it, but it's not going to compile (I more or less tried, but this is a C and Visual C++ project). Any word, however, on an OS X port? I shouldn't imagine that it'd be much work.
 
That app only converts protected AAC to AIFF, which you can then conver tback to AAC but you'll loose some quality in the process. This one is lossless since it just strips the DRM from the files and leaves an ordinary MPEG-4 audio file.

Its fast too.

Plus it keeps (most) of the tag information when you convert it. The only catch to using it is it has to be a PC where the files are already authorised, otherwise it won't work. I can finally play all those iTMS songs on my internetless PC now!

One wierd thing I've noticed is that the resulting file fas a bitrate of 127kbs as opposed to the 128kbs of iTMS files, not sure what it means but I just found ti a bit odd.

Hmm...I just tried another one and it came to 125kbs, hmm...
 
vniow said:
One wierd thing I've noticed is that the resulting file fas a bitrate of 127kbs as opposed to the 128kbs of iTMS files, not sure what it means but I just found ti a bit odd.

Hmm...I just tried another one and it came to 125kbs, hmm...
Click to expand...

Perhaps the encryption is adding extra space to the song? Or perhaps the converter does minimal compression work (like removing dead silence)?
 
Dunno, I'm searching for more info about it, so far nothing to explain the bitrate discrepancy but I did find a nice registry editor to where all you have to do is right click on the file and then hit Convert. Very very nice.

It'll have a .mp4 extention but a simple rename to .m4a enables the tag info to be seen in iTunes. Still has that wierd bitrate discrepancy (seems to range from 125 to 127 kbs...)
 
My guess is that the BPS is TotalBits/TotalSeconds, so when the digital management is gone, it loses some size, therefore changing the bit rate.
 
I thought it might be possible to use a combination of tools to get a converter for OS X.

A simple AppleScript file could load QTConvert, convert the file to AIFF, load iTunes, convert the AIFF to MP4 (or MP3), grab the tags from the original M4P, and place the tags in the new file.

It's a few steps and requires two programs to run, but it may hold some promise.
 
rice_web said:
A simple AppleScript file could load QTConvert, convert the file to AIFF, load iTunes, convert the AIFF to MP4 (or MP3), grab the tags from the original M4P, and place the tags in the new file.
Click to expand...

Nooooooooooo!!!

That's exactly what apps like m4p2mp4 are trying to avoid, unnecessary information loss in files. The beauty of this little app is all is does is decodes and removes the DRM wrapper from the M4P file, it doesn't convert it into an uncompressed file and then reconvert it into another lossy file. This app is great for me since my PC which is also my media centre is in a position in my house where it is incapable of accessing the internet, therefore is unable to play the files that I bought from the iTMS, forcing me to either use Toast or something to decompress the file, add all the tag info, and then load it into the Windows iTunes. The song sounds the same as the compressed protected one but now its over 40MB instead of around 5. With this app the file size stays the same (its even a bit smaller!), the tag info is kept (most of it) and the DRM is gone.

I must say, good call on the Ars forum, it seems like this app may get somewhere on OS X now...
 
vniow said:
Nooooooooooo!!!

That's exactly what apps like m4p2mp4 are trying to avoid, unnecessary information loss in files. The beauty of this little app is all is does is decodes and removes the DRM wrapper from the M4P file, it doesn't convert it into an uncompressed file and then reconvert it into another lossy file. This app is great for me since my PC which is also my media centre is in a position in my house where it is incapable of accessing the internet, therefore is unable to play the files that I bought from the iTMS, forcing me to either use Toast or something to decompress the file, add all the tag info, and then load it into the Windows iTunes. The song sounds the same as the compressed protected one but now its over 40MB instead of around 5. With this app the file size stays the same (its even a bit smaller!), the tag info is kept (most of it) and the DRM is gone.

I must say, good call on the Ars forum, it seems like this app may get somewhere on OS X now...
Click to expand...

Oh, I don't want the solution I proposed, but the conversion to OS X may take some work, and I was just suggesting it as a temporary solution.
 
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