Sorry if I say this, but this is just "blah!". <_<
I've seen the issue "you can't code this/that, because it isn't ASM code" or "the GP32 can't handle that, you have to rewrite it" etc so much on this board and still someone took it on and re-coded it, no matter what it was (for example the SNES emu, a GBA emu, perhaps soon even a DOS emu!). Why else would you think it is possible now to listen to WMA songs or OGG? You think the codes were already in ASM? So this is just another nonsense I've heard lately - sorry. The GP32 is capable of using AAC (theoretically), why shouldn't it if AAC is just an "enhanced MP3 with new psychoacoustic encoding matrix" (if we keep it simple). It even works on my Pentium 100 (sorry... don't have a 486DX-2 66Mhz up and running anymore) flawlesly without massive CPU usage.
AAC or other said MP4 is the definite future. It will tag off MP3 the next years. It's used by Apple (iPod for example), by Dolby (AOL Radio), and it's also well known in the audio scene and also massively used (webradios, online shops, a handful of music communities use them already too). So it isn't a greyzone either. It's only a matter of time until free-encoders pop up for AAC too, like they did as MP3 was "outstanding" and "new". And so what... a "Nero" encoding license doesn't cost a "kingdom", it's freely implemented in Nero6 and this is still one of the most spreaded burning software. Speaking about OGG... AAC might still be at the beginning (even though it is already something about one year old) and it's that good, no matter what you might say about "OGG" and new encoding matrixes... it will never touch AAC.
Besides... The FAAD isn't the only free decoder. Just go over to www.rarewares.org/aac.html and you not only find "decoder plugins" for Winamp, Sonique and other players I only heard of, but other stuff too. And they're not made of the FAAD one. Hell no.
If WMA is possible too (and this is a Microsoft only license!), then AAC is also possible. If I could code for GP32, I'd do it by myself. If you can't do/won't try it... then leave it be but don't tell me it isn't possible when the GP32 is just a small PC in pocket form. Hell it doesn't even have to be capable of using multichannels, stereo is more than enough. I'm sure someone can and will take on this task. But like I said... no actual free player can beat the original K2YAA one so far if we talk about layout and usage.
BTW: I already wrote K2YAA about the request of implementing AAC. Don't have an answer yet, but I'm sure that they're not against it.
We will see what happens in a couple of weeks...
Speaking of audio tests:
Well... I never said something about DAWs, I said something about quality comparison. No matter if it's a PC or GP32... the codecs are still the same.
