Re: My Soundbridge doesn't play AAC files

> the 1.1 release, which is a bug fix only release, will be a small number of
> weeks.  We are waiting to see if any more unexpected problems show up.
> 

For customers (on Mac) using their Soundbridge with localized versions of
iTunes, there are the following 3 workarounds to play your AAC files and
listen to radio stations with your Soundbridge , until Roku releases the
1.1 update:

To play your AAC files you can:

use Slimserver instead of iTunes. Slimserver decodes AAC on the server and
sends uncompressed or MP3 reencoded audio to the Soundbridge. You should
choose the second, if your Soundbridge is WiFi connected. Installation on
OSX is really easy (disk image with installer). Slimserver syncs with your
iTunes library, so you still can use iTunes for organizing your music
library. You may have Slimserver silently running in the background together
with iTunes and can easily switch in  the Soundbridge GUI between iTunes
serving and Slimserver serving. This also allows you to listen to radio
stations. You may use the Shoutcast radio station library directly
integrated into Slimserver (would love to have this as well when using
iTunes as server) or create play lists with your favorite radio stations. Be
aware that the navigation and display is significantly different when you
switch to Slimserver. I'll go into more detail about this in another
posting.

you can temporally convert your AAC files into MP3. To do this, first make a
copy of your iTunes folder (in your Music folder). so you can revert back
after the 1.1 update. Set iTunes import preferences to MP3 (Bitrate see
below). Then select all your titles (if you only have AAC) or make an
intelligent playlist (no live updating; name it AAC) searching for kind =
AAC and select it. Highlight all tracks and choose convert to MP3. This
creates duplicates in MP3 format and takes a while depending of the number
of tracks. Then again select your AAC playlist, highlight all tracks and
press cmd-alt-delete. Should delete all AAC duplicates from your library.

you can temporarily switch your iTunes to English version. To do this choose
in Finder "Get Info" for the iTunes application. Uncheck your language (or
all except English). Now iTunes should start with English GUI. Your tracks
still read "AAC Audio-Datei" instead of the required format "AAC audio
file". But iTunes updates that information, when you play the file or
display the "Get Info" window (for a single track). Afterwards Soundbridge
recognizes the AAC. That works as well for radio stations.

If you go the second route, temporarily converting to MP3, I'm not quite
sure to say, what the best Bitrate woud be. Keeping the same as the AAC
sound natural, but AAC is mentioned to give better results than MP3 on same
Bitrate. Or with other words a 128 kbps AAC might be equal to a 160 kbps
MP3. Can't proof this. Probably the thread "AAC or MP3" brings some light
into this area.

Peter