Anyone heard of an mp4a file?

[bif]

what is it?

[vi5]

1. M4A is also called AAC or MP4....depending on who you ask

I believe .m4a is the direct file type but it could also be M4P if you purchased the file. I believe they are all the same thing. It's primarily used in Itunes applications although you can get plug ins to get them to work in Winamp and Music Match Jukebox.

[bif]

2. Can they be converted

to burn CDs? Like into an AIFF file?

[vi5]

3. What program do you use?

Itunes can convert them into whatever file type you like. It can also burn them directly to cds.

Not sure how they would work on other programs though.

[MrModerate]

4. Like just about everything else Apple touches . . .

They're largely incompatible with the rest of the digital universe.

And DRMed up the ying-yang, another pet peeve of mine.

[vi5]

5. I have no problem with the m4a format...

when you buy through itunes it's the m4p format that sticks it to you. But I just burn those to disc and then import them back.

[MrModerate]

6. Now I'm getting confused . . .

m4p, mp4a, who can keep them straight?

What I have noticed is that saving the "native" itunes file to disk, burning to CD, and then ripping back to mp3 leads to serious guality degradation.

Which I'm fairly sure is deliberate.

[bif]

7. I usually use Toast for the Mac