Should AAC be added to Pony.fm?

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,529]

PLEASE READ BEFORE VOTING!!

 

 

AAC is a lossy audio format that was developed with the intention of being MP3's successor. It offers much improved compression (better quality with smaller file sizes!) and an unencumbered licensing model (no license is necessary to encode nor decode the format!), among other advantages like supporting sample rates up to 96 KHz and up to 48 channels.

 

Places you may have seen AAC files:

• Every single track on the iTunes store is in AAC.
• All the iDevices offer hardware support for it.
• Zune, Sansa, Archos, and various other portable audio players all support it.
• Virtually all recent mobile phones.
• Nintendo's Wii, DSi, and 3DS all play back AAC files. As well, the Wii U's web browser supports them as part of HTML5's audio API.
• PlayStation Portable
• Xbox 360
• PlayStation 3

MP3 remains the lossy format of choice for many individuals, but AAC is pretty widespread in its own right, and is technically superior to MP3 in just about every meaningful way.

 

 

I'm considering adding AAC support to Pony.fm. This will increase the site's disk space usage by storing four files per track rather than three, but AAC can be substituted for the MP3 files when it comes to streaming tracks on-site in addition to being made available as another download option.

 

As AAC compresses better than MP3, the implications of this will be faster stream downloads and better-sounding streams. Streams will also work on the Wii U, which doesn't support MP3!

 

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Please reply and vote in the poll!

[CloudFyre 848]

What is the current stream format/rate? I know that SoundCloud streams in 128kbps MP3, but the reduction in quality is aggravating. High end sounds start distorting (to a noticeable degree), and a sliver of the low frequencies are muddied in the process. As such, I've been hesitating to contact one of the record labels on SC, as my "resume" submissions that I send them won't sound the same when they listen to it.

That being said, I hope that someone there will recognize that, and download the lossless version - but first impressions are everything.

Anyhow, I'm always up for higher quality streams. It just makes life easier.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,529]

What is the current stream format/rate? I know that SoundCloud streams in 128kbps MP3, but the reduction in quality is aggravating. High end sounds start distorting (to a noticeable degree), and a sliver of the low frequencies are muddied in the process.

 

Pony.fm currently uses the same files for streaming that you get with the MP3 download option. These are encoded at 320 Kbps CBR. To me, they sound excellent, but the filesizes of these MP3's are quite huge. In theory, AAC should achieve aural parity with a 320 Kbps MP3 at only 160 Kbps. The quality can only go up from there.

 

I should note that I don't possess any high-quality audio playback kit, so if anyone has some great headphones or speakers, I'd appreciate if you could do a few listening tests for me.

 

 

On a side note, CloudFyre, if you look at some breakdowns of the AAC spec, the format excels at compressing low- and high-frequency ranges that MP3 has a tendency to muddy.

[DusK 1,264]

320KB/s MP3 has always sounded fine to me. The difference in audio fidelity at that point compared to WAV is negligible, and the frequencies that get muddied are usually those that get rolled off during mastering anyway (< 20-30Hz, > 20KHz), but AAC is the preferred audio format for some Mac users and is natively supported by some devices that don't support MP3. Allowing users to download AAC instead of having to resort to some third-party app to convert MP3 or FLAC saves a pretty tedious step in those cases.

[Proctra Music 335]

I see no reason this change should go unsupported. The size is fantastic and the quality compares to mp3 wonderfully. And the way I see it you shouldn't be coming back to this page to listen to the song when you have an option to DL the song in multiple other formats right there.

 

I support the conversion.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,529]

AAC has been added. The AAC files are encoded at 256 Kbps and turn out at roughly half the size of the 320 Kbps MP3's. At this time, they are not tagged with metadata. A separate algorithm needs to be written to tag them, unfortunately, which will take some time to do.

 

This issue appears to be present with playback in the browser. I'll be working on fixing that up. I'll leave streams set to MP3 in the meantime, to preserve correct playback behaviour.

 

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Update: I've managed to correct the issue with AAC files not playing back correctly in the browser. Playback now functions as intended, so every single stream on Pony.fm has been replaced with an AAC one. Enjoy the faster loads and improved quality! This will be great for everyone who actually listens to music on Pony.fm.

 

As usual, if you experience any issues, please report them in the bug tracker.