Hi,
 
1) Why is it not possible to drag-and-drop an audio file into SONAR?
2) Why can't I import and AAC audio file?  Do I really need to re-encode it?

I see M4A, but not AAC. Maybe something to do with DRM?
 
https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR&language=3&help=Recording.32.html
 
There's bound to be a utility that can do conversions for you (assuming no DRM).

I found an opensource converter, thanks.
 
But still, why not drag-and-drop, Cakewalk?

Good question. I suppose it could have something to do with AAC being proprietary, but SONAR has always been able to import MP3, even when it was proprietary. Are you sure it's AAC files in general, or is it specifically iTunes files? I could find no AAC files on my computer to experiment with, so I can only speculate.

yeah, aac can include drm if from itunes etc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding

My guess is SONAR is running as administrator. If this is the case, Windows does not allow drag and drop from the OS into SONAR. Drag and Drop should work from the SONAR browser.
 
AAC appears unsupported. At least when I test using AAC files created by ffmpeg. Converting them to WAV first does work.

scook
My guess is SONAR is running as administrator. If this is the case, Windows does not allow drag and drop from the OS into SONAR. Drag and Drop should work from the SONAR browser.
 

Thanks for pointing it out. SONAR was indeed in administrator mode. As soon as I disabled it, I could drag an m4a file (which is supported) directly into track view.  THANKS :)