ATRAC3 decoder is now open source!

[fixminze77]

Hi,

for all those who are interested, the ATRAC3 decoder is now open source. It can be found at

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.ffmpeg.devel/44526

It is also very easy to completely reverse engineer the ATRAC.SP (292kbs) decoder which has been comming with SonicStage since Version 3.4, especially with the help of google. See this message for details:

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=18063

The ATRAC.SP decoder is very elegant and very small in code (only about 10kB). There isn't any encrypted stuff around it -- yet it seems as if Sony wants that somebody opens up all their codecs.

The thing I never understood is this: Why did Sony put so much DRM into SonicStage and at the same time released an open ATRAC3.acm codec without any DRM already in the year 2000? ... well, we will never find out ...

Kind regards,

fixminze77

[Admin: Please be so kind and move this post to the correct Forum if thats not the correct one - Thx!]

[theblueraja]

open source... ok, but what does that mean?

I looked at the link and it showed all sorts of raw data... so can you explain this to me like I was a 5th grader? Thanks.

[pata2001]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Sonicstage never has SP capability (read/encode/decode,etc), which is why we have fake SP.

1.

Atrac 3 compatible decoder

This is just an open source attempt to create an Atrac3 DEcoder. Note, only to DEcode, not ENcode.

2.

Currently atrac3 in oma/omg or psmf is not supported.

This decoder handles RealNetworks, RealAudio atrc data.

So, none of the atrac tracks encoded by Sonicstage will work, only those encoded by the old real media player version of atrac.

Sony execs would probably rather kill themselves than actually making Atrac open source. Still, way to go for open source! With time (might take a really long time), maybe someday we can play Atrac files without resorting to Sony software/products. That is if Sony doesn't launch its lawyers.

Edited March 1, 2007 by pata2001

[fixminze77]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Sonicstage never has SP capability (read/encode/decode,etc), which is why we have fake SP.

... well, what can I say ... you are wrong, sorry. You are right in that Sonicstage has no ATRAC.SP encoder, however by now, everyone with Sonicstage Version 3.4 and up has an ATRAC.SP decoder.

1. This is just an open source attempt to create an Atrac3 DEcoder. Note, only to DEcode, not ENcode.

... yep, but I think I did write this, didn't I?

So, none of the atrac tracks encoded by Sonicstage will work, only those encoded by the old real media player version of atrac.

Correct, but still ... I didn't say so, did I? And thats not the point. For me, it is not important if tracks created by Sonicstage can be decoded by the open source version -- for me it is important that there is an open source version that can decode raw ATRAC3 data.

With time (might take a really long time), maybe someday we can play Atrac files without resorting to Sony software/products.

Well, I have been able to play raw ATRAC.SP data on the computer without the help of Sony software since the late 1990s because I have written myself an ATRAC.SP decoder. I would say that about 70% of the information needed to write an ATRAC.SP decoder can now be found on the web.

Regards,

fixminze77

[raintheory]

... well, what can I say ... you are wrong, sorry. You are right in that Sonicstage has no ATRAC.SP encoder, however by now, everyone with Sonicstage Version 3.4 and up has an ATRAC.SP decoder.

Edited March 1, 2007 by raintheory