jkoshi

This is a must have for any iTunes convert. When I first started importing my music in iTunes, I didn't know I had to switch the encoding to mp3 manually. So I have a lot of albums in m4a that had gotten stuck inside my iTunes. WOOT they have been liberated! Ben, you rock.

fanguad

The description is misleading here. This doesn't play files with FairPlay DRM, it only allows for playing AAC files, known by their extension m4a. Generally, files with FairPlay DRM have the extension m4p.

siddharthagandhi

AAC files can already be played. This extension is for FairPlay files.

davoidance

Hi all. I just installed Songbird, and thought I had the latest. But I get a message saying I need Songbird 2.5* to install this. How come you guys get it and I don't? :)

davoidance

Nevermind. Got the nightly...

Falko

My Songbird didn't start after installing this extension. See Bug 2702 for further details. I would suggest renaming the extension if it is only needed for FairPlay files as the comments state. Otherwise users may believe that Songbird does not play any QuickTime files without the extension.

alexx

wow, thank you so much. this has to be the only media player i know, besides itunes of course, that can play fairplay encoded files. I've been waiting for this forever, and i'm glad you guys were the first. congrats, and good luck with songbird!

mrbiscuit

Well, just saying that if more thought/work was put into this, you could release a Linux version using wine with customizations using the quicktime alternative or real quicktime, etc. Just a thought.. I got the default 30 second clip to play but no aval after that =[ (running windows version in wine)

SonjaL

Strangely this doesn't work for me. It just won't play my files from the itunes store.

Nix

Will this add-on ever be available for Linux? This would be the most amazing add-on for the recently converted Linux user (like myself). I was just wondering if it would be possible.

universe

What I love about songbird is that it can replace Apple's iTunes and Quicktime. However, to play DRM files, we need the quicktime plugin which requires us to install Quicktime. If you read the agreement, it says: "You agree that Apple and its subsidiaries may collect and use technical and related information, including but not limited to technical information about your computer, system and application software, and peripherals ... " 14. Use of MPEG-4. ... except that an additional license and payment of royalties are necessary for encoding in connection ...(having .mp4 songs stored)" Scary. I'd like complete independence from Apple.

mig

The files have to be approved to play on your machine. First, play them in iTunes and do whatever authorization is necessary, then quit iTunes and we can play the files just fine. Good luck!

mig

Unfortunately not unless Apple ports their Quicktime APIs to Linux. We simply use the Apple technology already on your machine to play the music that your machine is already approved to play. This extension does _not_ circumvent the DRM on any tracks you may have purchased or acquired.

SonjaL

I've done that, but it sill doesn't work :(

sEaMoNkEy

I use Songbird but I also use iTunes becuse of the iTunes store. I've got a lot of songs from the iTunes store, so this is very helpful. Thanks ben, and keep up the good work. -sEaMoNkEy

Crypto77

Why is there absolutely no support for 64-bit users? Songbird is utterly useless to me and will no longer be if there is no support for M4a and AAC files.

bonejob

Don't know how it works. Why? Because there is no support for Linux! I don't know why, but my throbbing bunions tell me that you are probably a Macaholic. I would invite you to look at the numbers. Linux, like MacOS, is a minority OS. But there are more of us than there are of you! If you are NOT a Mac user, I cannot for the life of me understand why you would ignore Linux in favour of MacOS X. Songbird is much more needed in the Linux community and will, as it matures, be seen as a Godsend, since there is a shortage of really good, polished media player/managers in the Linux world, whereas Windows people have a fistful (iTunes, Windows Media Player, Helium, MediaMonkey, WinAmp, RealPlayer, Rhapsody, etc.) and Mac people have iTunes (really, what else do they need ?). I'll download and install Songbird on my wife's Windows box and try out your extension. Then I'll get back with some more comments. If it works well, I'll give it a better rating, though I won't give it five stars, no matter how well it works, until you include Linux support!

jeffsteel

I checked bugzilla and did not see this listed and honestly…. I did not want to create YET another account with another website that I sincerely doubt I’d have reason to use (enough that making a password and throwing my email address out would be warranted), so please forgive my posting this here…

That said when I went to download this extension/add on/plug in (whichever is the correct qualifier) I got this message “QuickTime Playback 0.2.5.6 could not be installed because it is not compatible with Songbird 0.3.1.” the odd thing about this is that when I started songbird up i did a scan for updates (from the tools/add ons) and well as I expected there were many required updates as I had not used Songbird for a while… everything updated and installed.. except for this very same quicktime thing except the given reason was… that this add on will not be installed because it does not provide reliable updates please notify the creator of this add on….or something really close and obviously quirky like that… So since Songbird is the Developer…and I didn’t wanna do the bugzilla thing I chose to tell you here… I just hope that the TOS don’t stipulate a requirement to do bugzilla…cause I don’t wanna break any rules, but also didn’t understand why after I created my login for songbird (hoping that as a member there would be a link to send a direct email to a developer/message poster) I didn’t understand why bugzilla would not accept this username and password… but alas that is another story…

On a more positive note: I absolutly love SB and I too think it is wonderful to be able to break the ties that bind me to iTunes… I knew I saould have passed over the iPod for ANY other player…) Nothing against Apple I actually love Mac’s and all, I just HATE iTunes as a media player…

renatose

can you please make it working on the version 0.5pre please?

renatose

can you please make it working on the version 0.5pre please?

MacNimble

I've been a Windows user for years and have several machines in my home and office which still run various versions of it.

Over the past 18 months, I lived on an island off the coast of Africa and was exposed to the struggles faced by growing economies. In these places, many people felt crippled by an inability to purchase Windows for the computers left to them or sold to them at very low cost by various oil companies and workers there.
As a corporate security measure, these computers had been stripped of even the operating system. I was able to help many people out by installing Ubuntu Gutsy on their machines and teaching them how to use it.
Those of us in the Linux community (new as I am, I like to consider myself part of it) look to organizations like Mozilla to be innovative, inclusive and creative.
That you have chosen to add a music player to your growing and improving suite of already incredible products is fantastic. That you have chosen to leave Linux users out in the cold by not providing support for Fair Play Audio Files seems at odds with your own philosophies.
It occurs to me that this issue might have more to do with Apple than with this program, but if so, please indicate that somewhere.
I am disappointed in Mozilla for either not communicating the real issues or for their exclusivity, but again applaud you on your innovation. Hopefully, you will soon add support for even these minority operating systems as they do in fact play a vital role worldwide as well as here in the United States.

Bill Brown
MacNimble.com
TheHolierGrail.com

seandiggity

I appreciate the enthusiasm as a GNU/Linux user myself, but the problem here is a legal restriction on the part of Apple.

Please see this post:
“You can only play Fairplay media on machines licensed to play that media.”

i.e. you need to install Quicktime first, which isn’t available on anything but Windows and OSX.

Search this site for “DRM” and “FairPlay” and you’ll find more posts about this issue.

seandiggity

You’re right, this does have to do with Apple. Please see my reply to a post above.

feerlessleadr

i cannot get m4b files to play at all, it just sits there and goes to the next one…am i doing something wrong?

ashughes

Coolness

BlackRicoh

As soon as this is fixed to not cause so much CPU usage when playing the files, Songbird will be my new media player

richard-ward

Is the source code for this plugin available? Interested in the inner workings of the plugin as a developer.

rfs

This does not support chapterized files ("podcasts" with chapters).

Playing a chapterized file works fine in Windows Quicktime player -- the player adds a chapter selector -- but Songbird does not (can not?) retrieve this info from Quicktime player, and so the chapter information effectively lost.

I use this feature of AAC for creating a single file containing an entire classical piece or live performance. This can, afaik, only be done on Mac. (I use Doug's Applescript "Join Together" for this, so I know I'm not the only one!) It works perfectly for concept albums, drum & bass, techno, etc. where each "track" is not intended to be a separate musical piece. The iPod supports this feature, natch.

Flattargetink

No Linux?

modmadmike

No Linux Support?

SHodges

Use this a lot on my Windows installation, good job to whoever made it. Can't use it on my Linux Mint install though, which kinda sucks.

mnl047

Great add-on, but until there is a port to Vista x64 or Linux it will not be usable by me. Alternatively, is there any way I can sort by filetype so I can accurately see which files I won't be able to play/will have to convert?

Thorneyeagle

I can't get the thing to work...I have 4 cd's that it wont allow me to play...I have Itunes and Quicktime installed on my computer..also my computer is authorized to play the music in question.

What I don't get is why it wont let me add the music to my ipod. Its very frustrating that 4 cd's are keeping me from a switch over to the Songbird...

Henry23

Nice site, wants to see much more on it! Go on!
generic clomid

Hi contributors, I would want to translate this addon to the Russian language. Please tell me your email, simply reply to my mail. Thanks, Marcis Gasuns.

webmidas

Hello Guys, love this addon. I like to localize this addon for Indian Public in their language. Please tell me how should we go ahead with the localization. Thanks, Prat Kris.

hxcobd

There seems to be a lot of confusion as to what this plugin actually does.

If all you want is generic M4A playback on your Windows or Mac machine, JUST INSTALL QUICKTIME, NOT THIS PLUGIN. Windows by default cannot play M4A files, so if you install Songbird and find that your M4A files will not play, JUST INSTALL QUICKTIME.

If you need to play PROTECTED/DRM M4A FILES, install this plugin.

Once again, this plugin is ONLY FOR PROTECTED/DRM M4A FILES, PRIMARILY PURCHASED FROM THE ITUNES MUSIC STORE.