Zune Software & M4A

I guess it's time for me to post a thread for a change haven't done it in a while anyway

I wanted to try out something new for my constant music playback through day and night, lol, so I gave Zune software a try, which is awesome.

But here's the thing: I can clearly hear that Zune software cannot properly playback low-bitrate .m4a music files; my CD rips are, as I mentioned one too many times before, HE-AAC rips made through Winamp with 64kpbs, stereo, of course. Now, I remember seeing in older encoder versions found in Winamp that the actual sample rate of these files is either 22050 or 32000 Hz (probably the first one), but I also know for fact that the output (decoding) sample rate is, in fact, 44100 Hz.

However, Zune software seems to be unable to reproduce these music files in the same way as Winamp (and any other music player) does. To all Zune software users out there, hAlp! lol
Is there, perhaps, a chance I may be able to do something about this?

[OOC: I do not want to NOT use Zune/increase the bitrate of my rips/use another software/get a life, lol, so if that's the only thing you have to say, don't post at all]

Sopolias Falst said:

[OOC: I do not want to NOT use Zune/increase the bitrate of my rips/use another software/get a life, lol, so if that's the only thing you have to say, don't post at all]

Probably won't get any post then. Cause I would say, change the format the music is in. Can continue to use MP4, but use a form that is actually supported. But I'm more baffled as to why you encoded at such a low bitrate...

I agree and really love the Zune software myself.

But Im not sure why you want such low bit rates. This format is really only suitable (IMHO) for spoken audio, not really music.

You may wish to try Sharks suggestion and see if that helps.


I know you didnt want to hear it, but I would simply re-rip the the disc.
Mostly because Zune isn't really optimized for that low of a bit rate.

Perhaps a 128kbps WMA or MP3 would work better for you, and sound much better even, if you want lower bitrate files.

Zune natively Rips MP3 up to 320Kbps and WMA up to lossless.

Alternatively, if you have Nero it will play Nero Digital as well.


Sadly, there really aren't many options but improving the quality of the file itself if you wish to keep Zune.

Well, thanks guys for your responses.
I just found out that Zune only supports LC, and not HE, so that sucks pretty bad

I was thinking of installing additional codecs, but besides Winamp which has everything I need for audio and VLC for video, I don't have any codecs installed at all, nor do I really need them anymore...

The reason I use only 64kpbs on the HE profile is... well, because its the HE profile! I still get stereo sound, and I can hear no difference between this kind of rip and the original disk. When I started to rip my music like this, it was due to low free space on my HDD, but in time I got used to it. Srsly, I hear no difference, so it suites me just fine :)