I'm sorry but I really don't see the pont of making an extn longer than it has to be, what's wrong with mp3/mp4 etc?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MotherBoards and iTunes
- Thread starter arn
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yeah plus, the stupid windoze people wouldn't understand, and M$ is too lazy to rewrite their code!
Um, no. The system at the core uses three letter extensions. So, to do what you ask, they would have to start from scratch. Not very smart. Nor would it be very smooth. Keep it the way that it is. 3 letter extensions.
Well, the problem with using .mp4 is that MPEG-4 is a video format, while .mp3 is strictly audio. Right off the bat you'll be confusing people. It's an arbitrary restriction with no real purpose other than to make life easier for Microsoft.
Also, B2TM, NT-based Windows OSes (NT, 2000, XP) have no 8.3 filenaming restriction. NT, using NTFS, allows for filenames up to 255 characters in length and generates a secondary 8.3 entry in the file table for compatibility with older apps. IIRC, 95/98/Me (and NT on VFAT) do the opposite; they use 8.3 filenames and generate a second long filename for the user to see.
Also, B2TM, NT-based Windows OSes (NT, 2000, XP) have no 8.3 filenaming restriction. NT, using NTFS, allows for filenames up to 255 characters in length and generates a secondary 8.3 entry in the file table for compatibility with older apps. IIRC, 95/98/Me (and NT on VFAT) do the opposite; they use 8.3 filenames and generate a second long filename for the user to see.
Am I missing out on something? If AAC is meant by mp4 then what's new? I can already play AAC files with iTunes. If you don't believe me, download quicktime 6, open an mp3 (or any other audio file), export it to mpeg4 audio and open it with iTunes. It works. (providing you have quicktime pro of course)
And some years ago mp4 was named after an mp3 contained in an .exe, so you wouldn't need an mp3 player anymore (for windoze users that is).
But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, and maybe I misunderstood something about that mp4 in iTunes.
Hell I'm confuzed hehe
And some years ago mp4 was named after an mp3 contained in an .exe, so you wouldn't need an mp3 player anymore (for windoze users that is).
But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, and maybe I misunderstood something about that mp4 in iTunes.
Hell I'm confuzed hehe
file extensions
Unfortunately, not all app programmers are smart enough to move out of the old 8.3 days. I'm running Win2K and tried renaming a file to .mpeg3 from .mp3. I then tried opening it in the latest version of MusicMatch and it won't open it (no error either - it just sits there!). Rename it back to .mp3 and it works fine. Go figure! (tried dbl-click in explorer, drag and drop and file open in MusicMatch BTW - none work)
eunuchs said:
"Well, the problem with using .mp4 is that MPEG-4 is a video format... "
MPEG-4 is an architecture. It's not just a video codec.
It's modeled after QT, with different tracks, even a layer
for including interactivity.
.mp4 is kinda like the wrapper around all the
mpeg-4 video, AAC audio, text, and other tracks...
MPEG-4, its not just for breakfast anymore...
Here's a crash course in MPEG-4, given by the
Prez of the MPEG-4 group... (google-fied)
http://216.239.35.100/search?q=cach...eg-4+architecture+interactivity&hl=en&ie=UTF8
As for MPEG-4's moniker, mp4 seems to fit just fine
as a name and as an extension. Rolls off the tongue
easy enough. Keep It Simple Suckas!
And Omen88, there seems to be proof in your pudding
about iTunes, iPod and MP4/AAC compatibility... woo-hoo!
And did anyone see that Sony-Ericsson ChatPen link
in that macosrumors article? Ten bucks says Apple's
got one in the coming months. It's totally doable.
Hell, it's done already (just not on the market : )
Do I even need to say Inkwell?
"Well, the problem with using .mp4 is that MPEG-4 is a video format... "
MPEG-4 is an architecture. It's not just a video codec.
It's modeled after QT, with different tracks, even a layer
for including interactivity.
.mp4 is kinda like the wrapper around all the
mpeg-4 video, AAC audio, text, and other tracks...
MPEG-4, its not just for breakfast anymore...
Here's a crash course in MPEG-4, given by the
Prez of the MPEG-4 group... (google-fied)
http://216.239.35.100/search?q=cach...eg-4+architecture+interactivity&hl=en&ie=UTF8
As for MPEG-4's moniker, mp4 seems to fit just fine
as a name and as an extension. Rolls off the tongue
easy enough. Keep It Simple Suckas!
And Omen88, there seems to be proof in your pudding
about iTunes, iPod and MP4/AAC compatibility... woo-hoo!
And did anyone see that Sony-Ericsson ChatPen link
in that macosrumors article? Ten bucks says Apple's
got one in the coming months. It's totally doable.
Hell, it's done already (just not on the market : )
Do I even need to say Inkwell?
8.3 filenames means that it has 255 characters, but only three letter extensions. So does the Mac if I am not mistaken.
They have two choices for naming MPEG4 audio:
1) Use AAC, which would be more technically correct, but potentially confusing for consumers.
2) Use MP4, which makes more sense to consumers as a progression from MP3, but is less technically correct.
Needless to say, I'm waiting to rip any more CDs until iTunes supports it.
1) Use AAC, which would be more technically correct, but potentially confusing for consumers.
2) Use MP4, which makes more sense to consumers as a progression from MP3, but is less technically correct.
Needless to say, I'm waiting to rip any more CDs until iTunes supports it.
You're right, 8.3 is an 8 letter name, then a 3 letter extension, as seen in DOS. Today, every single widely used OS supports file names up to 255 characters, and of those 255 characters any number may be designated as an extension. A period is just another character. This is true of OS X, Linux, Win95+, WinNT, etc. (OS 9, of course, is limited to 31 characters. But the extension can, again, be any number of those 31 characters). There is no technical reason to limit an extension to only three characters. Of course, that doesn't make any difference. However inaccurate it may be, calling MPEG-4 "mp4" has a great marketing advantage by positioning it as the logical successor to the ever popular "mp3". And that isn't even too far from the truth...
Wouldn't that be 256 bits for name and 24 bits for extension characters? A char is 8 bits, so 3*8 for the extension.
Ideally, MPEG 4 files wouldn't have any extensions at all because we'd all be out of the 1980s far enough to realize how arcane they are (file extensions). Have we learned nothing from BeOS?
Alex
Alex
in response to eric_n_dfw, DVDs don't use AAC, but rather .ac3 audio. open up a dvd in the finder and you'll see. it confused me too when i first read about aac.
as for eunuchs' topic of there not being any 5-letter extensions, OS X has a lot of files with extensions at least 5 characters in length, the most common one being preference files with the extension ".plist". Even longer extensions include ".component" and ".FCacheSystemDomain".
as for eunuchs' topic of there not being any 5-letter extensions, OS X has a lot of files with extensions at least 5 characters in length, the most common one being preference files with the extension ".plist". Even longer extensions include ".component" and ".FCacheSystemDomain".
Sorry, I didn't mean to confuse that issue. Besides, my posts are usually way too long as it is!
The average consumer wont give a $#!+ about the technologies used... they just want to hear more and store less, so MP4 is great. MP4 is fine for video as well. and newayz, the extention mp4 is being used currently for MPEG4 Video and MPEG4 AAC Audio.... so its a bit too late to start complaining about the file names.
How about...
How about .aac? What's wrong with that?
Three letters, exclusive to audio, no abbreviation. How about it?
How about .aac? What's wrong with that?
Three letters, exclusive to audio, no abbreviation. How about it?
mp4 audio == aac
The deal with iTunes is that it will become compatible with AAC, which is the audio layer of MPEG-4 (as many people have already noted in this forum). The announcement was already mady by Steve Jobs at WWDC. iTunes in 10.2 supports AAC.
---gralem
The deal with iTunes is that it will become compatible with AAC, which is the audio layer of MPEG-4 (as many people have already noted in this forum). The announcement was already mady by Steve Jobs at WWDC. iTunes in 10.2 supports AAC.
---gralem