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(12-12-2023, 02:00 AM)Nutul Wrote: Reading better,
is moOde able to play the very same files IF you play them WITHOUT PeppyMeters? Or are you just mean ("that kind of files") that moOde can usually play .m4a files?
According to what Francesco is saying, the stream is kind of doubled: one copy is for MPD to play, and the other is for PeppyMeters to read and display.
Apart from timing conflicts, the only thing that comes to mind is some sort of DRM on the files, which Alsa observes, and limits MPD in its playback...
It could also be interesting to examine at byte-level the original file and the converted one... just for curiosity.
Hi again,
yes Moode - without PeppyMeters - is able to play the very same file that gives an error when played on Moode WITH PeppyMeters. And this happens with ALL iTunes purchased files. So it could ba a sort of DRM limitation but only observed by Alsa and not by Moode itself….
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(12-12-2023, 03:08 AM)TheOldPresbyope Wrote: (12-12-2023, 02:21 AM)Nutul Wrote: (12-12-2023, 02:17 AM)TheOldPresbyope Wrote: Haven't had time yet to example the contents but meanwhile I'm loving the remastered Jazz Messengers recording I bought.  Hi Kent,
so you are saying that they play on moOde, right?
This makes the things a little bit more confusing...
P.S.
What is exactly the album? I'm always all-ears when it comes to Jazz...
No, sorry, I was playing it on my iPad to make sure I got what I intended. I've just started transferring the files to my Linux Mint laptop.
For the first track, mediainfo reports
Code: kreed@T520:~/Music/Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers/Moanin' (Remastered)$ mediainfo '01 Warm-Up and Dialogue Between Lee.m4a'
General
Complete name : 01 Warm-Up and Dialogue Between Lee.m4a
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Apple audio with iTunes info
Codec ID : M4A (M4A /mp42/isom)
File size : 1.67 MiB
Duration : 35 s 921 ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 390 kb/s
Album : Moanin' (Remastered)
Album/Sorted by : Moanin' (Remastered)
Album/Performer : Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
Part/Position : 1
Part/Total : 1
Track name : Warm-Up and Dialogue Between Lee and Rudy
Track name/Position : 1
Track name/Total : 8
Performer : Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
Performer/Sorted by : Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
Composer : Spoken Word
Genre : Jazz
ContentType : Music
Recorded date : UTC 1958-01-01 12:00:00
Encoded date : UTC 2018-11-01 00:52:29
Tagged date : UTC 2023-12-11 18:30:52
Cover : Yes
AppleStoreCatalogID : 725816486
AlbumTitleID : 999447
cmID : 461986
PlayListID : 725816184
GenreID : 11
PurchaseDate : 2023-12-12 01:31:00
Title/Sort : Warm-Up and Dialogue Between Lee and Rudy
Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 35 s 921 ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 256 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 456 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 1.13 MiB (68%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2018-11-01 00:52:29
Tagged date : UTC 2023-12-11 18:30:52
Note what it says for the Format profile: "Apple audio with iTunes info"
On the hunt to see what "...with iTunes info" means. And of course I still need to serve the files to moOde now that I've got them.
ETA - Yes, these tracks play in moOde.
This is classic hard bop jazz of the late 1950s. My tastes grew with time but II like revisiting the "masters".
Regards,
Kent
Hi Kent, thanks for your reply.
Do you mean they’re playing in Moode WITH PeppyMeter installed?
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(12-11-2023, 11:35 PM)fdealexa Wrote: (12-11-2023, 05:46 PM)Nutul Wrote: (12-11-2023, 04:08 PM)raspiter Wrote: Yes, your is a more efficient solution, but I'd prefer not to convert/duplicate files.
This is not actually converting; it's more fixing-to-standard. It's not even duplicating, if you remove the original files after conversion (I guess you refer to m4a => flac, which I actually do). No loss in conversion, although m4a files are generally slightly smaller than the equivalent flac.
(12-11-2023, 04:08 PM)raspiter Wrote: Above all, I'm curious to understand what's happened to MPD and if there's a "software-side way" to fix the issue.
This IS a software way... nevertheless, if MPD complains only when PeppyMeters are involved, we may understand from @fdealexa how the stream is read, manipulated (as it clearly appears to be something MPD is complaining...) and output back to MPD.
I think that it may be either of:
1. something peppymeters don't do properly (hence corrupting the stream)
2. something weird in the stream itself, and peppymeters discarding some (for it) unnecessary information without fixing data elsewhere (if required) and rendering the stream valid, but not in its entirety (and MPD being very picky at formats...)
See what Francesco has to say, as I may be completely on the wrong path with my assumptions.
Hi everyone,
thanks for the information. First of all, I am not the owner nor the designer nor the author of Peppy: I just wrote a guide to install it in the moOde environment. From what I understand PeppyMeter is made up of 2 main blocks: PeppyAlsa and PeppyMeter. The first is mainly needed to create a fifo file with the two-channel signal level. The second does not manipulate any data: it only reads the fifo file and displays the levels graphically.
So the module that could be involved in the problem you describe is PeppyAlsa. To send the audio stream to this module I use the loopback function which allows you to send the stream to the real audio route and to PeppyAlsa. I'm not an Alsa specialist: on the diyaudio forum there are 2 threads where I found the author of Peppy and one of the best connoisseurs of Alsa.
It is my opinion that MPD is not involved in the issue. Could one of you, please, write a post describing the issue on that forum(I don't use apple)?
Best regards and thanks,
Francesco Hi Francesco, thanks for reply. I’ll check the threads and post there the issue
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(12-12-2023, 03:30 AM)TheOldPresbyope Wrote: @raspiter
What is the output from execcuting mediainfo on one of your tracks which does not play with PeppyMeter enabled?
Regards.
Lemt
I’ll check it as soon as possible
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(12-12-2023, 08:14 AM)raspiter Wrote: (12-12-2023, 03:08 AM)TheOldPresbyope Wrote: (12-12-2023, 02:21 AM)Nutul Wrote: (12-12-2023, 02:17 AM)TheOldPresbyope Wrote: Haven't had time yet to example the contents but meanwhile I'm loving the remastered Jazz Messengers recording I bought. Hi Kent,
so you are saying that they play on moOde, right?
This makes the things a little bit more confusing...
P.S.
What is exactly the album? I'm always all-ears when it comes to Jazz...
No, sorry, I was playing it on my iPad to make sure I got what I intended. I've just started transferring the files to my Linux Mint laptop.
For the first track, mediainfo reports
Code: kreed@T520:~/Music/Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers/Moanin' (Remastered)$ mediainfo '01 Warm-Up and Dialogue Between Lee.m4a'
General
Complete name : 01 Warm-Up and Dialogue Between Lee.m4a
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Apple audio with iTunes info
Codec ID : M4A (M4A /mp42/isom)
File size : 1.67 MiB
Duration : 35 s 921 ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 390 kb/s
Album : Moanin' (Remastered)
Album/Sorted by : Moanin' (Remastered)
Album/Performer : Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
Part/Position : 1
Part/Total : 1
Track name : Warm-Up and Dialogue Between Lee and Rudy
Track name/Position : 1
Track name/Total : 8
Performer : Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
Performer/Sorted by : Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
Composer : Spoken Word
Genre : Jazz
ContentType : Music
Recorded date : UTC 1958-01-01 12:00:00
Encoded date : UTC 2018-11-01 00:52:29
Tagged date : UTC 2023-12-11 18:30:52
Cover : Yes
AppleStoreCatalogID : 725816486
AlbumTitleID : 999447
cmID : 461986
PlayListID : 725816184
GenreID : 11
PurchaseDate : 2023-12-12 01:31:00
Title/Sort : Warm-Up and Dialogue Between Lee and Rudy
Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 35 s 921 ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 256 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 456 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 1.13 MiB (68%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2018-11-01 00:52:29
Tagged date : UTC 2023-12-11 18:30:52
Note what it says for the Format profile: "Apple audio with iTunes info"
On the hunt to see what "...with iTunes info" means. And of course I still need to serve the files to moOde now that I've got them.
ETA - Yes, these tracks play in moOde.
This is classic hard bop jazz of the late 1950s. My tastes grew with time but II like revisiting the "masters".
Regards,
Kent
Hi Kent, thanks for your reply.
Do you mean they’re playing in Moode WITH PeppyMeter installed?
No, I'm using a stock moOde player. I started there to be sure I understood the nature of the tracks I downloaded from iTunes.
Regards,
Kent
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@ TheOldPresbyope are the tracks free of drm/encryption?
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(12-12-2023, 08:49 PM). Tim Curtis Wrote: Tim Curtis@TheOldPresbyope are the tracks free of drm/encryption?
I copied them straight out of the iTunes directory after downloading. You see a typical mediainfo output from one, above. The tracks play straight away in a vanilla-installation moOde. VLC plays it without a whimper.
The only complaint from ffprobe is
Code: mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x558f855840] stream 0, timescale not set
I got several hits on the Internet with this as the search term. This seems to be a known issue with ffprobe and images being included in an mpeg4 container as a stream. Naturally they don't have a timescale. I didn't find suggestions that it's a problem or that there's a solution if it is. In any case, I haven't yet established whether this is what's triggering the PeppyMeter/MPD problem.
Haven't had time to work on it more today. I suppose at some point I'm going to have to install PeppyMeter, sigh.
Regards,
Kent
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Interesting. I suppose purchased tracks are drm-free while downloading tracks for Offline use has drm?
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(12-12-2023, 09:43 PM)Tim Curtis Wrote: Interesting. I suppose purchased tracks are drm-free while downloading tracks for Offline use has drm?
I don't know The Apple documentation seems deliberately imprecise about all this. They really don't want us thinking about taking the tracks outside their walled garden.
I haven't figured out the answer to Al's question about lossless tracks either. Maybe there's a setting in iTunes which will let me download ALAC-encoded tracks instead of AAC-encoded ones.
Regards,
Kent
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12-13-2023, 03:22 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-13-2023, 03:57 PM by TheOldPresbyope.
Edit Reason: ETA
)
@ raspiter
I've installed enough of the PeppyMeter infrastructure to exercise its use of the ALSA loopback path., e.g., I've got everything but the virtual meters themselves.
I can confirm that trying to play the AAC-encoded M4A tracks I downloaded from iTunes with ALSA loopback enabled results in a failure internal to the MPD subsystem. MPD aborts, which leads to the error message you originally reported. The same tracks play without issue if ALSA loopback is disabled.
[ETA this hypothesis may be bogus. See following post.] My current hypothesis is that this failure is triggered by the way the coverart is embedded in the M4A container.
The same result occurred with a different M4A track I'd obtained elsewhere, also AAC encoded and also with coverart encoded as a stream in the M4A container. Hence, I can't attribute the failure to practices at iTune s per se.
It's going to take some more detective work before I feel comfortable passing this issue to devs outside the moOde project.
Regards,
Kent
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