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[craft]

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[JimH]

Hi Craft,
I'm glad you finally posted!

Try a search (here and google) for using the Quicktime Encoder as an external encoder.  I believe we saw that someone had done that.  Wikipedia has a lot of info on similar topics.

[craft]

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[Alex B]

The program that can be used is named "iTunesEncode".

Here is the forum thread that has instructions: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=34177.0

The thread is about Apple Lossless format (ALAC), but iTunesEncode can encode AAC as well (This depends on the selected format in iTunes.)

The program is available here: http://www.rarewares.org/files/aac/iTunesEncode46.zip

Keep in mind that the encoder cannot write physical file tags. You can use Mp3tag for mass copying the tags from a bunch of files to another bunch of files.

[Alex B]

I just noticed that you asked for HE-ACC encoding. iTunesEncode can encode only LC-AAC files.

Nero's free CLI encoder is a standard commandline encoder. I think it should be possible to use it with the External Encoder plugin. I'll try to find out how.

[JohnM]

Hi!

You could try the Easy CD-DA Extractor (it's not free). I'm using it as my ripping program and mostly do my format converstions with it. More info at http://www.poikosoft.com/

BR John

[Alex B]

You could try the Easy CD-DA Extractor (it's not free). I'm using it as my ripping program and mostly do my format converstions with it...

This thread is about how the External Encoder plugin could be used in conjunction with MC's library.

Nero's CLI encoder has superior HE-AAC quality at the moment. It is free for end users. If an external program is needed, e.g. Foobar2000 0.9 or this tool can be used as a free frontend.

BTW, MC's secure ripping mode is very good and easy to use. I recommend ripping with MC (in secure mode) or with Exact Audio Copy if certain special ripping modes are needed.

[craft]

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[Alex B]

The current HE-AAC implementation in the Nero encoder includes both modes (SBR and SBR+PS). The encoder selects the best appropriate mode automatically according to the selected quality level.

Here are the settings for MC's External Encoder:



As a test I used the quality setting 0.15 (on the scale of 0.0-1.0).

The resulting VBR files have average bitrates from 30 to 32 kbps and Nero used all gimmicks. Here is a screenshot of FFDShow's Info & Debug display during playback (MC11.1 > Haali Media Splitter > FFDShow):



The audio quality is surprisingly good.

[Alex B]

... Keep in mind that the encoder cannot write physical file tags. You can use Mp3tag for mass copying the tags from a bunch of files to another bunch of files.

I tested this too. My test source was a three-disc classical album in APE format. I selected the APE files in Mp3tag and did "right-click > Tags Copy". Then I changed to the target folder, selected the M4A files and did "right-click > Tag Paste".

After that the "Update Library (from tags)" tool (inside MC) imported the Artist, Album, Track Number, Name, Genre, Date (year), Comment and Composer field values.

[craft]

null

[Alex B]

You can also use the Handheld function with External Encoder & Nero.

I tested it with the "Simultaneous Conversions" option set to two encoding process. It worked fine.

This is good news for iPod users too. The lowest Nero q setting that uses the iPod compatible LC-AAC mode is -q 0.31. My test files averaged at about 75 kbps. Some users may find this quality setting already usable. Personally, I'd prefer a bit higher q setting. -q 0.35 produces nice quality at about 96 kbps.

[craft]

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[Alex B]

I realised that the playback quality is much worse when using the quicktime engine, is it supposed to be like this?
if i change the playback setting to render mp4 through directshow filters (coreaac and haali splitter) instead, the playback is equivalent to the file quality...

Apple's AAC decoding does not support HE-AAC. HE-AAC is backwards compatible so that the LC part can be played with decreased audio quality. This is why HE-AAC files should not be used with QuickTime (or iPods).

...and crossfade and volume control is enabled.

MC's DSP system cannot be used with QuickTime. This one of the reasons why the DirectShow decoding for AAC files was introduced.

[dcwebman]

I came across this thread because I'm trying to convert MP3's to M4B's to get the bookmarking feature for audiobook MP3's. I tried the NeroDigitalAudio instructions that Alex gave and it worked fine, or appeared to. iTunes says it's an AAC file but MC still listed it as an MP3 File Type. I had expected that field to change, especially since the file extension was M4B. I transferred some of the conversion files to my iPod Nano and it really didn't seem to like them very well. From what I've read, M4B's are supposed to show up in the Audiobooks menu but they didn't and were still in the Music menu. Also when trying to play one, it seemed like the pressing of buttons was buffered instead.

So what's the most reliable way to convert an MP3 file to an M4B, hopefully using MC?

[tessa]

I use Markable to turn mp3s into M4b files.  http://www.ipodsoft.com/site/index.php?n=MarkAble.HomePage

It uses the itunes engine to do the encoding, so you gotta have itunes but otherwise, it's a fairly straightforward program to use.  If you have a bunch of mp3 files, you can merge them before conversion, which is convenient as I'd rather have 1-3 files for a book, instead of 100+.  And the M4B files work as expected in Media Center (remembers last playback position) and on the ipod (shows up under audiobooks).