AAC format not supported on Windows Phone 8 per Microsoft Support !?

[AZBrowncoat]

Dear Stanley,

My name is L** with Microsoft Support. I am contacting you regarding the issues you are having with playing the AAC format files on your Windows Phone 8.

Currently, it is not a supported file format on the phone, however if you would like to requet that this format is supported, you can suggest it here: Feature Suggestions: Hot (19693 ideas)

I hope this clarifies things for you. I will be archiving this ticket, but if you have any questions in the future please feel free to contact us any time.

Regards,
L** D.

Microsoft Support

SIGH ...obviously not true, but frustrating from a user standpoint that incorrect information is being disseminated by Microsoft Support.

 

[havox22]

Yeah, none of my itunes files work on wp8 (wont show up in music hub) my hope is that VLC player will be a music palyer also, and I can replace xbox music until they figure this out

 

[AZBrowncoat]

Microsoft support has asked me to send them a couple of my files that are not working...I really hope this issue gets resolved as the thought of having to re-rip all those CDs to MP3 format just so I can use them with my Windows 8 Phone blows.

Hello Stanley:

Thank you for your response and your extereme patience with this issue. I have a couple thoughts on the matter and a request.

First, I saw you mentioned the files you are having issues with are AAC files in a MP4 container. The documents on our website do state that AAC codec works within a M4A container. I would be interested to know if this is part of the issue. If you can convert one of these files for testing purposes we would appreciate it.

My request is that you forward us a copy of a couple of the files you are having trouble with. We can use this to verify we have the same experience and get back to you with any tips we may find to get your files working with your phone.

We look forward to receiving your reply and getting this resolved once and for all.

Have a great day,

L** D.

Microsoft support

 

[Coolknight1968]

You can convert all iTunes files to mp3, build into iTunes. Just convert your songs.

 

[tcedwards]

Yes that ^^^

 

[AZBrowncoat]

You do realize that you lose quite a bit of audio information trans-coding from a lossy format to another lossy format?

Quality loss when transcoding between aac and mp3 - Hydrogenaudio Forums

 

[eric12341]

You do realize that you lose quite a bit of audio information trans-coding from a lossy format to another lossy format?

Quality loss when transcoding between aac and mp3 - Hydrogenaudio Forums

Try first converting the files to .wav then to .wma pro, little to no information is lost this way as .wav is a lossless format. To be fair .wma also isn't supported on the iPhone either.

 

[AZBrowncoat]

Try first converting the files to .wav then to .wma pro, little to no information is lost this way as .wav is a lossless format. To be fair .wma also isn't supported on the iPhone either.

...would likely take less effort to re-encode the files into MP3 files than to trans-code from AAC to WAV to WMA; however it does not alter the fact that Windows Phone support does not even know what file formats are supported (see first post) despite the fact that AAC files are clearly supposed to be supported.

...just hoping it gets worked out - in the meantime Microsoft needs to be made aware of these issues or they will not get addressed which is why I contacted support.

What I was not expecting was a completely erroneous reply from Windows Phone support.

I will update if/when I receive and update from Windows Phone support.

 

[AZBrowncoat]

Greetings Stanley,


This is L** with Microsoft Support again. Thank you for supplying a copy of one of the files you were having an issue with. It was very helpful.

We were able to get that copy of "Going Under" by Evanescence onto a Windows Phone 8 and were able to get it to play without having to convert the file to a different format. The issue we ran into was the Windows Phone app for desktop did not recognize the file. We moved it to the phone using Windows Explorer. It was a computer running Windows 7, so the process should work for you as well. When copying the file to the phone, we were prompted to convert it. In this case, that was not necessary. We selected the option not to convert and the song worked without an issue.
The Windows Phone app for desktop is still under development, so later versions of the program may recognize the AAC format and allow for syncing. For now, try using Windows Explorer to transfer your music files to your phone.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Regards,
L** D.
Microsoft Support

I'm not sure how using Windows Explorer without converting is going to be any different than copying files over with Music Bee but when I have a chance I'll try it...wonder if it is a Lumia 920 issue and not a Windows Phone 8 issue?

I'll email Windows Phone Support and ask them what device they used.

 

[Chris_Kez]

Hmm... I recently ripped a few CDs into iTunes using the "AAC-iTunes Plus" setting and I'm able to play them on my L920. I was also able to play some songs I recently purchased directly from iTunes. Strange...

 

[AZBrowncoat]

Hmm... I recently ripped a few CDs into iTunes using the "AAC-iTunes Plus" setting and I'm able to play them on my L920. I was also able to play some songs I recently purchased directly from iTunes. Strange...

It is strange...it doesn't seem to be a consistent issue as others have reported that they too, like myself, are having issues with songs ripped via iTunes while others report no issues at all.

Per Microsoft Support they were able to get the song that I sent them to play whereas I cannot <shrugs> .

 

[SnailUK]

If you go to itunes, and look at the bitrate, what does it say? I rip everything at 256kbps, because that IIRC is the maximum WP supports.

 

[AZBrowncoat]

If you go to itunes, and look at the bitrate, what does it say? I rip everything at 256kbps, because that IIRC is the maximum WP supports.

My library mostly consists of AAC Files ripped at 256kbs (iTunes +) - however, anything that I've added in the last few days has been ripped as 320kbs MP3 Files.

 

[eric12341]

WP can support 320k MP3 files so 256 isn't the maximum.

 

[tekhna]

....couldn't Windows Mobile support AAC 5+ years ago?

 

[eric12341]

....couldn't Windows Mobile support AAC 5+ years ago?

I can't recall if it did or didn't but WP does indeed support AAC as confirmed in the OP post above.

Update: here's a link to the specs page for the HTC Touch pro 2 about supported files

http://www.htc.com/us/support/htc-touch-pro2-sprint/tech-specs

 

[za_mhz]

I was looking into supported audio formats, AAC seems to be supported. but windows phone doesn't support DRM. If your files have DRM they won't work. Also makes using digital copy useless for us.

 

[AZBrowncoat]

**UPDATE**

Drag-n-drop with Windows Explorer worked for the couple of files I tried - I need to experiment with some more files but the one album that did not work by syncing using Music Bee works if just dropped onto the phone with Windows Exploerer.

...it makes absolutely no sense to me why that would work when syncing using Music Bee and Media Monkey with the same files did not!?