Windows 7 - how to disable m4a file conversion for a MTP player that supports m4a in WMP12?

Chris34 · 03-21-2009

Hi,

Not sure if it's the right forum or not. If it's not, sorry for the mistake.

I was wondering if anyone had a trick to force WMP12 to not convert .m4a files into .wma files when sync'ing to a portable media player that can plays files with this extension?

I read on the Microsoft support site that there was an option to disable the auto-conversion option in WMP, but I later found out this option only appears when WMP12 is managing files for a player that do not support the MTP protocol. Converting files before sync in Windows Media Player: frequently asked questions - Windows Vista Help

I have a NWZ-A826 that can play .mp4, .m4a and .m4v audio and video files, but when I try to upload .m4a files in the player using WMP12, it converts the files to .wma before sync'ing them. However, if rename the same .m4a files to .mp4, WMP12 sync the .mp4 files without converting them.
I tried the media manager software from Sony that comes with the CD and winamp, and both sync mp4 and m4a files in the player without converting them. The only problem with the Media manager for Walkman, and it's mainly why I don't want to use it, is that it forces you to install Quicktime during its install and it only recognizes .mp4/.m4a files encoded by Itune/Quicktime, but doesn't recognize .mp4/.m4a files encoded by other encoders like the nero AAC-LC encoder and the Winamp MP4/AAC-LC encoder.
Sync'ing .m4v video files to the device works without problem.

That's taken from the capability_00.xml file that is at the root of the device and is probably part of the MTP protocol standards to tell MTP compatible media managers the audio and video formats the device supports as it's always there/always comes back whenever I format or reset the device.

Code:

            <Audio>
                <Format>
                    <Extension>mp4</Extension>
                    <Extension>m4a</Extension>
                    <MIME-Type>audio/mp4</MIME-Type>
                    <MIME-Type>audio/m4a</MIME-Type>
                </Format>
            </Audio>

I don't plan to use another media manager than WMP12 and I'm tired of looking around and messing around with the registry, so any help to get WMP12 to sync m4a files without converting them before would be greatly appreciated. I tried a couple of other media managers, but I didn't find any as user-friendly/easy to use as WMP12 is. didn't think I'd ever say that about WMP... I hope it just a bug that will be fixed in the future release...
Also, not sure if it's related or not; but when I drag files from the explorer to the device, I always get a message asking if I want to convert the file before uploading it and that even if the file is compatible with the device. This even happens when uploading files previously converted by the explorer drag and drop system.

Thanks in advance

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There's something else and it's quite a change since the build 7000.. just look at the two screens...
I don't really know what to think about this. Are they still working on some driver issues with MTP devices or is it how browsing a MTP portable media player will look like for the final release of Windows 7? many options disappeared since the public beta. Since the builds 7048 and 7057 (I haven't tried any other leaked builds since the official beta), the page that centralized everything about the device disappeared, the option to safely remove the device has also been removed (I think that's normal for a MTP device) and the icons when browsing the device look bad. Has anyone noticed the same with a portable media player from another brand or does this only happened to Sony portable media players?

Windows 7 - how to disable m4a file conversion for a MTP player that supports m4a in WMP12?

how to disable m4a file conversion for a MTP player that supports m4a in WMP12? problems?