Radio now aac rather than mp3

[Christopher Woods (CustomMade)]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: get_iplayer-bounces at lists.infradead.org 
> [mailto:get_iplayer-bounces at lists.infradead.org] On Behalf Of 
> bat guano
> Sent: 21 February 2011 17:32
> To: get_iplayer at lists.infradead.org
> Subject: Radio now aac rather than mp3
> 
> 
> 
> Please do bear in mind though that (from my own empirical 
> comparisons) it seems the iPlayer just TRANScodes the 
> original AAC audio to MP3, it's not encoded fresh from the 
> original source audio. So if you choose the MP3 option, 
> you'll end up with a noticeably lower quality audio file.
> **************
> 
> No that's not the case.
> 
> If I use this command:-
> get_iplayer --get --type=radio --raw --mode=flashaudio 
> --pid=b00ym9ff The result is mp3 in an flv wrapper.
> get_iplayer doesn't TRANScode - it just un-packs.
> 
> This is the result:-
> 
> Complete name          : 
> Bells_on_Sunday_-_20_02_2011_b00ym9ff_default.flv
> Format                           : Flash Video File size      
>                   : 2.77 MiB Duration                         
> : 3mn 0s Overall bit rate                 : 129 Kbps
> 
> Audio
> Format                           : MPEG Audio Format version  
>                  : Version 1 Format profile                   
> : Layer 3 Codec ID                         : 2 Codec ID/Hint  
>                   : MP3 Duration                         : 
> 3mn 0s Bit rate mode                    : Constant Bit rate   
>                       : 128 Kbps
> Channel(s)                       : 2 channels Sampling rate   
>                  : 44.1 KHz Compression mode                 
> : Lossy Stream size                      : 2.75 MiB (99%)



NB that I did not say "get_iplayer" transcodes the audio, I said that THE
iPlayer transcodes the audio. I've asked someone at the BBC about this but
it seems that the audio is actually transcoded from the "master" AAC to the
MP3 files delivered using the flashaudio, iphone formats etc - the MP3 files
are for compatibility purposes only remember, their own Flash player uses
AAC / AAC HE.