WMA support- what does it transcode to?

[milosz]

As I understand it, Squeezeboxes can't decode WMA streams. To play WMA files, SqueezeCenter transcodes them on the fly and sends the result streaming out to the SB player(s) on the LAN or WLAN.

My question is- WHAT does it transcode WMA to? I am using WMA lossless files - does SqueezeCenter transcode this to a lossless format for streaming to the players? If so, what format?

I noticed that with transcoded formats like WMA, you can't "fast forward" the music. Will this ever change in future releases?

Also- will there ever be native support of WMA in Squeezebox players? Seems like you could do this in firmware.

[Phil Leigh]

As I understand it, Squeezeboxes can't decode WMA streams. To play WMA files, SqueezeCenter transcodes them on the fly and sends the result streaming out to the SB player(s) on the LAN or WLAN.

My question is- WHAT does it transcode WMA to? I am using WMA lossless files - does SqueezeCenter transcode this to a lossless format for streaming to the players? If so, what format?

I noticed that with transcoded formats like WMA, you can't "fast forward" the music. Will this ever change in future releases?

Also- will there ever be native support of WMA in Squeezebox players? Seems like you could do this in firmware.

AFAIK wma can be transcoded by SC to mp3, flac or wav - you can choose!

[mattybain]

As I understand it, Squeezeboxes can't decode WMA streams.

My understanding was that wma was handled natively whilst wma loseless was transcoded.

[funkstar]

My understanding was that wma was handled natively whilst wma loseless was transcoded.

Correct. I think there is also a couple of obscure WMA codecs like the voice codec that are not handled natively either.

By default, all transcoding is done to FLAC to either preserve the lossless nature of the files or to prevent "generation loss" you get when transcoding one lossy format to another.

[andyg]

Voice codec is supported natively, as is the normal WMA codec.

[milosz]

So it's just the lossless WMA files that I am using that are transmogrified on the fly to FLAC, not the WMA format generally. I see.