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Topic: AAC support for portables... (Read 7039 times) previous topic - next topic
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AAC support for portables...

hello all...
i am new to this forum, though i've been reading it and using it to find out as much as i can about AAC. it has been a great help so far. now i have a following question:

other than the ipod, are there any portables that will play AAC encoded files, using all/some current encoding methods (other than iTunes/iPod)? perhaps some vendor has something in the works? some sites, claim the new RCA AV Lyra has support for AAC, but so far i found only 1 review of it and there is nothing about AAC in there, only generic thoughs about the product and that 50% of the features are not implemented yet. clearly AAC is superior to all other "proper" formats, so it appears that it has a bright future, yet support seems very scarse to date, and i am questioning the viability/longivity of iTunes support for Windows.

any thoughs?

thanks...

EP

AAC support for portables...

Reply #1 –
Yup, there are at least two that I know of. Well, two brands anyway. Panasonic has a few models that play AAC. Here's one

http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electron...rs.asp#feature4


And the DIVA GEM mp3/aac audio player

http://www.daisymm.com/l/en/mpz/divagem_det.html


Personally, I'm going for the latter, seems like a real beauty:)
//From the barren lands of the Northsmen

AAC support for portables...

Reply #2 –
Nokia 3300 and Ngage read AAC... 

AAC support for portables...

Reply #3 –
yes, the lyra supports AAC. I think you will start to see alot more portable players with aac support. It has broad industry support and is a very good codec.

AAC support for portables...

Reply #4 –
Quote
Yup, there are at least two that I know of. Well, two brands anyway. Panasonic has a few models that play AAC. Here's one

http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electron...rs.asp#feature4


And the DIVA GEM mp3/aac audio player

http://www.daisymm.com/l/en/mpz/divagem_det.html


Personally, I'm going for the latter, seems like a real beauty:)

Anyone here seen these portable players on sale in the US or Canada? I haven't seen them before...

AAC support for portables...

Reply #5 –
what prevents AAC adoption by say, Iriver or Rio? Are there high fees or other IP restrictions? Or are they simply too lazy?

AAC support for portables...

Reply #6 –
Quote
what prevents AAC adoption by say, Iriver or Rio? Are there high fees or other IP restrictions? Or are they simply too lazy?

1) Patent/License fees for decoding (although this isn't a big problem given their revenues, IMHO)
2) Guess who produces the best free AAC encoder?  Apple, their biggest competitor.

AAC support for portables...

Reply #7 –
Quote
1) Patent/License fees for decoding (although this isn't a big problem given their revenues, IMHO)

That's not a problem at all, AAC decoder licenses are smaller than MP3 ones. Also, specially if you consider that the more units you sell, the less you need to pay.
http://www.vialicensing.com/products/mpeg4...ense.terms.html
http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/index.html

Quote
2) Guess who produces the best free AAC encoder?  Apple, their biggest competitor.


Well, it's the best, but iRiver and anybody else can surely point their customers to Faac. Quality isn't as good, but it's free and not associated with Apple.

Besides, I disagree that Apple is their biggest competitor. iRiver is still strongest in CD-based players, while Apple only works on HD-based ones, and iRiver only recently released HD units.



So, yeah, I would say that it's lazyness.

AAC support for portables...

Reply #8 –
iRiver has ogg/mp3/wma.  I doubt theres really any demand for any additional codecs.  Particularly since ogg/wma and AAC are pretty close at 128 and above.

AAC support for portables...

Reply #9 –
Quote
That's not a problem at all, AAC decoder licenses are smaller than MP3 ones. Also, specially if you consider that the more units you sell, the less you need to pay.
http://www.vialicensing.com/products/mpeg4...ense.terms.html
http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/index.html

At the risk of repeating Vorbis propaganda..."Why pay more for licensing fees when you can get Vorbis for free?"
Quote
Quote
2) Guess who produces the best free AAC encoder?  Apple, their biggest competitor.

Well, it's the best, but iRiver and anybody else can surely point their customers to Faac. Quality isn't as good, but it's free and not associated with Apple.

Besides, I disagree that Apple is their biggest competitor. iRiver is still strongest in CD-based players, while Apple only works on HD-based ones, and iRiver only recently released HD units.

Unfortunately, they can't just recommend/distribute FAAC, because you essentially get the same problem as LAME binaries.  I suspect that's why most mp3 players distribute MusicMatch with their product.  MM probably pays for part of the mp3 licensing.

BTW, iRiver's biggest line are their CD-players, but they do have quite a lot of flash players as well.  Likewise with Rio.  Unfortunately, HD-based players like the iPod are cutting them down.  Really, I think they're the wave of the future, simply because you can store more music on them (or better quality music).  Lame -aps is no longer unreasonable for portable.  That's not to say that mp3 flash and cd players will die out completely, but I wouldn't be surprised if 5 years from now, HD-based mp3 player sales are greater than either of the others (I wouldn't be too surprised if that were the case now).

Anyways, I still maintain that the iPod is the biggest threat to Rio and iRiver (aside from each other).  Probably because the iPod has the backing of just about the entire Apple/Mac community and is one of the most talked about mp3 players.  Here in the US, I have seen Volkswagen Beetle commercials offering a free iPod with the purchase of a car.  The fact that they can make a television commercial like that shows you just how well known and popular the iPod is, and equally so, just how hard Rio and iRiver will have to fight to get their products heard.  THAT'S probably why they have products that support Ogg Vorbis.  Doing so will get their name around in the OSS communities.

To answer the original question: Rio and iRiver probably don't support it because they have no interest in doing so, and they risk alienating whatever new customers they've picked up with their Ogg Vorbis support.

AAC support for portables...

Reply #10 –
Quote
Anyone here seen these portable players on sale in the US or Canada? I haven't seen them before... 

Hmm... I'm afraid not. Since the mighty US $ has taken a dive lately, I thought I'd have a friend shipping it (DIVA GEM) over from the U.S. but I can't seem to find it over there. I haven't checked the Panasonic tho, mainly because I have no intention buying it. It doesn't have any built in memory at all.
//From the barren lands of the Northsmen

AAC support for portables...

Reply #11 –
hmm, so I suppose we'll never see support for AAC simply because of the additional licensing fees they'd have to pay for the firmware update. Not only would they have to fork over mucho $$ for little gain, but getting specifics on licensing would be a bitch (do it on a per-d/l basis? charge ppl for the firmware update?). Plus, it may be a few cents to you and me but that still eats into profit margins.
 

AAC support for portables...

Reply #12 –
They'll have to do it if there is huge demand for it, say from popular applications - or very large base of content available in AAC format.

I guess this base is being formed, and in the future the three biggest formats will probably be MP3, AAC and WMA  in audio field,  and  MP4 / WM9 / DivX (MP4 AVI)  in combined A/V.