My conclusion is: MAX does not use the mp42 MP4 v2 [ISO 14496-14] container.
ISO 14496-14 is the MP4 file format used by AAC. Everything that understands AAC files supports it.
MAX uses open source and core audio api’s from Apple and is a Mac only product. MP42 is of Microsoft origin, from what I can tell, and is usually affiliated with Windows Media Video. So the question is where did my 13 files get the mp42 MP4 v2 [ISO 14496-14] container?
MP42 is the Apple quicktime/mp4 type code for MPEG4 layer 2, not MS-MPEG4v2.
I found both of these settings produce aac files with the mp42 MP4 v2 [ISO 14496-14] container. This is the same container signature my 13 files in my previous test have.
Unsurprising, since all modern AAC files use that container.
The only strange thing is the 13 aac files I tested did load and they did playback fine from the player memory. They just took forever to load, so I guess I need that explanation what you mean by “does not support”.
AAC is stupidly complex. Most likely the Sandisk decoder is just buggy when used on files that don’t use the specific container layout that iTunes uses. I didn’t see any mention of testing actual iTunes AAC files, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t work. Until Sandisk gets this figured out, either stick to iTunes or better yet just use MP3 and avoid all this mess entirely.
