m4a's don't work anymore!

The other day before a gig, I was at another DJ's house and we were showing each other new tracks. I had my hard drive, but not my computer, so I plugged my HD into his windows XP laptop. He was running 1.9.2. Later that night, at the gig, I found out that some of my tracks wouldn't load. It would say "Unsupported File Format" or "File Requires Quicktime to be Installed". All of this is crazy because the tracks worked BEFORE I opened them on his 1.9.2 system. I don't recall what version I was running on my machine, but I found out after my gig that all the files that wouldn't load were m4a's. So, I made sure iTunes AND Quick TIme were updated - nothing. Then I tried updating Scratch Live - nothing. I've been browsing around on the forum and found that it may have something to do with weird characters in the file name. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson.... doesn't work because it's an m4a. 1901 by Phoenix doesn't work because it's an m4a. NONE of my m4a's work. I guess I could convert them to mp3's or wavs, but damn... that's going to take a while!

Hi Paddric,

Scratch Live uses QuickTime to decode AAC (M4A) files, so you should have the latest version of this installed - which version are you running currently?

Which version of Scratch Live are you using? Have you updated to 1.9.2?

Finally are you able to attach one of the files you are having this problem with?

Okay, I'm currently running QuickTIme 7.6.4. and Scratch Live 1.9.2. I'll attach one of the files..

More relevant info - my friend's computer had just been returned to factory settings. In fact, I had to install Scratch Live for him. I didn't check, but he may have not had QuickTime installed on that machine. So, maybe something changed between running my hard drive on his computer (which probably didn't have QuickTime on it), then running it later that night on MY laptop. Like I said, all of my tracks worked before I plugged into his machine.

Hi Paddric, can you please try dragging a handful of the tracks that aren't working to the "analyze files" button, let the analyzer run until it's finished, and then try playing a few of the tracks?

That should tell us whether your friends machine without Quicktime installed has somehow convinced Scratch Live that the files can't be played when there's really nothing wrong with them - refreshing the database by re-analyzing the tracks can sometimes fix problems like this.

Yep... still nothing. It says "unsupported file format". And that's after I dragged them to the analyze files button.

Hey Paddric,

Do these files play in iTunes and QuickTime on your computer?

Yes they do! I just recently plugged my hd into a macbook pro and opened Scratch Live 1.9.2. All my crates came up as expected and I still had the same errors concerning my m4a's. So, I dunno what to do... sounds like I'm screwed. I'm just going to have to spend a weekend converting all my m4a's. booo.

Hey Paddric,

Have all these files been brought in to your Scratch Live library using the "read iTunes library" option? Have any been added directly to Scratch Live without coming from your iTunes?

Hopefully we can sort this soon so you don't have to re-encode your files!

No, I never use the iTunes option. Most of the stuff I spin isn't in my iTunes library.. Actually, some of it was ripped using iTunes, but I didn't keep it there. So yes, some are in iTunes, but most of them aren't.

Sorry, a second read of that doesn't make much sense and probably isn't very helpful! Obviously, the m4a's were imported into the computer using iTunes. The vast majority of them, I don't keep in iTunes. I didn't use the "read iTunes library" option to import any of my songs into Scratch Live. I like to do it manually so I can keep a close eye on what actually makes it into Scratch Live. I don't like having every song I own in there because frankly, a lot of it doesn't make my setlist!

Hey Paddric,


Thanks, that's what I needed to know :D

Do you have the "import AAC files" option checked in the library tab in the setup screen?

Yes, I do have that checked. When I import CD's in iTunes, I like to import them as apple lossless, which I guess is an m4a (which, from what I can tell is also known as an aac file).

that's your problem, apple lossless is not the same as AAC, and isn't supported in scratch live yet AFAIK.

Actually Corse32 support for ALAC files was added in 1.9.1 ;)

ALAC and AAC files are different, although they both have the M4A extension. Scratch Live should be able to handle both of them now though.


Just going back to this earlier comment - if you drag one of these files onto the analyze files button does it actually analyze the files or just display the "all files analyzed" message?

Also what happens if you rip and add a new AAC/ALAC file, does it work fine? Is it only your old files that this is happening with?

Hey Paddric,

Good news! I've managed to reproduce the problem you are having and there is a workaround for it :)

Firstly, I reproduced you problem like this:
1) Run Scratch Live and add ALAC files to the library - they play fine.
2) Close Scratch Live and un-install QuickTime.
3) Re-open Scratch Live and try to play an ALAC file - it will say "file requires QuickTime" and flag the file with a yellow warning icon.
4) Close Scratch Live and re-install QuickTime.
5) Re-open Scratch Live. Any ALAC files that are not flagged with the yellow icon play fine, any that are flagged with the yellow warning icon display the message "unsupported file format". Also you can't re-analyze these files.

This is a bug in Scratch Live, and explains what has happened to your files - as your friends computer didn't have QuickTime on it Scratch Live would have flagged these files with a warning and stored this in its database.

You can fix this by creating a new database. There is an article on how to do this here -> www.serato.com (click link). Please give that a go and let me know how you get on :)

( * )%

That's a weird icon ;)

Okay.. so I tried the steps you said to try in that linked article. I got really hopeful, because it seemed like a good idea. After I reopened Scratch Live, it took a few minutes for it to rebuild the database, and when it was done, I tried playing one of the songs with the infamous yellow triangle, and the same problem persisted! Man, I'm gonna feel really stupid if this is just some easy fix that I should've seen! I have double and triple checked to make sure I'm updated on all my quicktime/iTunes software, and I am! I followed the instructions from the link you sent to the T! Also, I tried analyzing the files and yes, all it does is display the message. It didn't seem like it did any actual analyzing. The next thing I'm going to try is ripping a fresh cd.. I'll report back when I have more info..

Man this sucks... I've been spinning a skeleton set every week! Funny thing is, I managed to pick up another night at one of the clubs I'm working at.. so maybe this was a little blessing in disguise! Anyway, I really do appreciate all the help you're giving me. I don't know what else to do.. Looks like I really am going to have to convert all those files to wavs!

Hey Paddric,

Did you rename the database V2 file on your internal and external hard drive? Once a new database has been made you shouldn't see those yellow warning icons at all.

I did, and I even double checked to see if there were new databases. I should only have 2 databases (One on my laptop's HD, and one on my external). Both were replaced by new ones.

Hmmm ok. Are these files in any of your crates?

You mean the files with the yellow triangle of death? Yes.

Ok thanks. I'd suggest that you remove them from your crates, build new database files (again, sorry!) then re-start Scratch Live - this should fix it for you :) You can the re-add them to your crates afterward.