Fedora's AAC Support Finally Seeing Audio Quality Improvements

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Fedora's AAC Support Finally Seeing Audio Quality Improvements

Fedora's version of the FDK-AAC library that they began shipping in 2017 to finally provide AAC audio support strips out what was patented encumbered functionality. But that gutting of the code did cause some problems like audio playback glitches that are now being addressed...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Fedora-FDK-AAC-Better-Quality

[mulenmar]

Meh. If you're using AAC, you're doing it wrong. Only three formats are needed nowdays: Vorbis, Opus, and FLAC... and of those, Vorbis is only needed because 1) Google didn't properly support Opus files in Android for so long, and there are so many non-upgradeable unpatched devices out there that don't support it and 2) most, if not all, Rockbox-able devices have weak CPUs that can't reliably decode Opus.

Oh, you need to play back old music rips? Get the CD out and rip it properly this time -- to FLAC -- or, if it's ALAC, convert it to FLAC.
Oh, you need to play back an old project that used AAC audio? Well shucks, go back in time and slap yourself in the head. Then come back, and if it's still AAC, well, I'm sure somebody can flatpak an AAC decoder.

Almost any Apple-specific technology (Quicktime, AAC/ALAC, iTunes*, Metal, HFS+, whatever) is an obsolete, locked-down platform nobody needs to give two thoughts for. If people want to sit in their little bubble and pretend they're somehow better than everyone else because their unrepairable, barely-upgradeable-if-at-all junk is overpriced, and they have to justify their spending so much on it somehow... fine, but nobody should cater to their delusions.

Their APFS... well, I've heard mixed reviews, but at least it's not HFS.

* Yes, I'm serious. Go look up some videos about how the current versions are worse, from an interface design standpoint, than older versions. Then look up how much of a PITA it is to add Vorbis/Opus/etc support.