Time for imported AAC files is changing to 789:57:13

Hi. I am on Windows 7. However, I'd say no, don't use 12.4.3 as it may be too old. Use from first link:

• iTunes 12.9.1.4 for Windows (32-bit) - iTunesSetup.exe (2018-10-24) Current
• iTunes 12.9.1.4 for Windows (64-bit) - iTunes64Setup.exe (2018-10-24)

Depending upon whether you are 32 or 64 bit - Follow steps to uninstall a program to remove the current iTunes. When completed, you can then re-install one of the above. From start menu, right click on Computer and view properties. You will see System type.

If not certain about these steps, you can use Google to find steps for uninstalling a program in Windows 10 and/or determining your system type. Uninstall a program in Windows 10 Determine system type Windows 10

Hope this helps. I've killed a lot of time today myself trying to untangle this unfortunate issue with iTunes and installing an older version will bring some relief but is not really a long term solution. Eventually we will need to update to a new version. Hoping that Apple addresses some of the previous requests from the group here and or subsequent versions of iTunes do not have this issue.

Regards, - Steve

I believe it can, though I've not had reason to test it personally. Remove each of the components from Apple in turn starting with iTunes and working alphabetically backwards, then install the older build. Here are the links:

• iTunes 12.9.3.3 for Windows (32-bit) - iTunesSetup.exe (2019-01-24)
• iTunes 12.9.3.3 for Windows (64-bit) - iTunes64Setup.exe (2019-01-24)

tt2

So, for now I have successfully rolled back to an earlier version of iTunes (12.9.1.4) and the issue is corrected and all my files play as usual. I guess I will somehow have to avoid updating again to 12.9.4. This is an interim solution to enable playing your existing library.

Here are links to earlier versions below.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6562#versions

https://support.apple.com/downloads/itunes

I have an update on this issue but unfortunately not good news other than I shared earlier. Uninstalling and going back to an earlier version of iTunes before 12.9.4 will correct the issue but is not the best solution for the long term. See my prior posts. I have contacted Apple Support on Twitter @AppleSupport and conversed with someone there throughout today. I shared details of the error, screen shots, video etc. Generally, they indicated that they felt this was my problem because I used a third party file converting program to create files for iTunes. But, as many have mentioned, that has been the case for years and iTunes worked fine with all AAC encoded m4a files. The alternative is to create files using the ALAC codec if you have that option, but the file size will be significantly larger. If you have thousands of music files, that will not be desirable. In any case, there are many threads here all regarding this issue. I suggest perhaps contacting Apple Support as I have as they seem to think this is a minor issue with no impact to customers. By the number of discussions I see today here, that is not really the case. See below. Apple Support is also on Facebook in addition to Twitter.

https://discussions.apple.com/search?page=1&q=AAC%20789&content=filterDiscussions&time=week

Steve_DB wrote:

So, for now I have successfully rolled back to an earlier version of iTunes (12.9.1.4) and the issue is corrected and all my files play as usual. I guess I will somehow have to avoid updating again to 12.9.4. This is an interim solution to enable playing your existing library.

Here are links to earlier versions below.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6562#versions

https://support.apple.com/downloads/itunes

Links for the most recent builds of iTunes are now added to the bottom of the referenced user tip. Mac users can see iTunes for Mac installers for a similar list.

tt2

As noted the usual trick of rolling back to a previous build while awaiting a fix isn't possible on Mojave so use Feedback - iTunes - Apple to let Apple know you're affected by this issue. They don’t read these boards for feedback or bug reports.

tt2

Hi Masterdance,

In terms of when a new version of iTunes comes out and what I will do, it's hard to say. Ideally it would be best if we were able to determine that Apple fixed the issue before we proceed with updating. From my standpoint using Windows PC, I have more than 1 with iTunes and feel that I can update or roll back again if needed. Quite frankly, I plan to stay put with 12.9.3.3 for as long as I can.

A lot of us have covered various options to convert files and/or resolve the issue over the course of the many posts in this discussion. Some options are better than others. Overall, in my case, it would be a lot of work to try and correct all impacted files to make them play in 12.9.4 and I don't want to spend the time. It would be like a full time job for several days to a week likely. We should understand the issue with 12.9.4 indeed impacts all AAC encoded m4a music files that were encoded outside of iTunes using another program. For those that don't have an extensive portion of their library created this way, perhaps not too much of an inconvenience. Please be aware that some steps that were mentioned to modify files such as changing to wav and back to m4a can be problematic as changing files to wav will strip away all "tags" such as track title, album title, artist etc. which will likely need to be added back manually one by one. Files will look like "Track 01, Track 02 Track 03....." Best to not convert to wav at all. You likely also do not want to convert to lossy formats such as mp3 either and back to m4a as quality can be diminished. As tt2 recommended, I too have sent feedback to Apple. Feedback - iTunes - Apple

I hope they are reviewing all that has been sent to them and will take into account for future iTunes updates. Thanks also to tt2 for all the advice and direction throughout. It has helped me. To others, see his posts.

Here is my generic post for uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes. You should uninstall all Apple components related to iTunes before attempting the new install.

For general advice see Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates.

The steps in the second box are a guide to removing everything related to iTunes and then rebuilding it which is often a good starting point unless the symptoms indicate a more specific approach. When reinstalling right click on the downloaded setup file and use run as administrator. It may also help to temporarily disable any non-Microsoft anti-virus.

Review the other boxes and the list of support documents further down the page in case one of them applies.

The further information area has direct links to the current and recent builds in case you have problems downloading, or want to revert to an older version if the current one won't work properly for you at the moment. Links to the most recent builds are now at the bottom of the page.

Your library and device backups should be unaffected by these steps but there are links to backup and recovery advice should it be needed.

tt2

Hi MD, No one was necessarily "in the loop" and the new version info just became available over the last 24 hours. tt2 posted an update and in my case - while I saw that - I was presented the normal update prompt when I launched iTunes today. I apologize that I am not specifically familiar with Audacity though I use similar software which in my case as well - was that files created with my software outside of iTunes were the ones impacted. In your case, since you have some concerns, perhaps proceed with caution.

Perhaps wait a little while and see if any others report issues. So far, I've seen positive posts. If you plan to update, be ready to roll back again if needed. If you have more than one PC, try one first. If you are in good shape now, no need to rush. If you follow the discussions, here:

https://discussions.apple.com/search?page=1&q=AAC%20789&content=filterDiscussions&time=month

you should be able to see what all are saying.

Apple has also made the new version available on their Download page: https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Think about what's best for you. Since your use of iTunes is part of your profession, definitely proceed only when you are confident and when you have plenty of time before next jobs. Good luck!

Just discovered this on the AlpineSoft (who make VinylStudio) support forum:

"It has come to our attention that iTunes 12.9.4 (as supplied with Mojave 10.14.4 and on Windows) cannot read AAC files created by VinylStudio. We know why this is and will update our software as soon as possible but as it affects tracks already in your iTunes music library that may not be sufficient.

We therefore plan to:

• provide a utility to fix tracks saved by VinylStudio that are already in your music library
• log a bug report with Apple (there's nothing actually wrong with the files)

In the short term, please save your tracks in Apple Lossless format and convert them to AAC in iTunes. Sorry for any inconvenience."

So presumably a similar thing has happened with Audacity?

All of my affected files were converted with FFmpeg. Most with Audacity. Some with another app, most likely using the same library. Libavcodec Checking the songs with COMMAND I to get information and going to the options tab revealed that they were encoded with Lavf55.33.100bbe.

Audacity does not do batch conversions to AAC. Only one at a time. It does do batch conversions to mp3, wav and a couple of others. So you might try that.

I used FISSION by Rogue Amoeba software. $29. I am not affiliated with Rogue Amoeba. Just a user. It does have batch conversion available to AAC. https://rogueamoeba.com

To do this:

1. In iTunes Set View Options to display time and make sure to view as songs so you can see a column view.
2. click the header column for time to sort by time.
3. Select all the 789:57:13 and drag to a folder in the finder, then delete from iTunes and move to Trash, not just delete from library.
4. perform your batch conversion to another folder and drag the converted songs back into iTunes.
5. Delete both folders you just created from your mac to save space.

I use a mac and am having the same problem. There are examples of this problem going back to 2006, but I never experienced it until a recent update.

All of my affected files were converted with FFmpeg. Most with Audacity. Some with another app, most likely using the same library. Libavcodec Checking the songs with COMMAND I to get information and going to the options tab revealed that they were encoded with Lavf55.33.100bbe

Audacity does not do batch conversions to AAC. Only one at a time. It does do batch conversions to mp3, wav and a couple of others. So you might try that.

I used FISSION by Rogue Amoeba software. $29. I am not affiliated with Rogue Amoeba. Just a user. It does have batch conversion available to AAC.

To do this:

1. In iTunes Set View Options to display time and make sure to view as songs so you can see a column view.
2. click the header column for time to sort by time.
3. Select all the 789:57:13 and drag to a folder in the finder, then delete from iTunes and move to Trash, not just delete from library.
4. perform your batch conversion to another folder and drag the converted songs back into iTunes.
5. Delete both folders you just created from your mac to save space. I have never used Windows, but I assume the process can't be all that different. But Fission is Mac only software. As a windows user, I suppose using an Audacity macro to convert to wav or something might be your best choice. You can always convert back to AAC in iTunes if you want.

I am not saying that the following is definitely the issue but it is a possible cause and I suggest you look in to it further.

I have found that often but not always Windows users are prone to accidentally use the wrong file extension for a file - particularly for video files. If hypothetically an MP3 file was given a .mp4 file extension this does not magically convert the file to MP4 format aka AAC but means the file is wrongly named.

As it happens Windows tools seem more forgiving of this type of mistake and Apple or more accurately Mac tools are more rigorous about checking things match properly. Therefore iTunes may see a file with a .mp4 file extension, then look at its contents and see it is not an MP4 file and reject it or in trying to process it get very, very confused. ;)

Similarly at least for video files, I have seen one of the main video 'containers' e.g. MPEG4, AVI, WMV, etc. which can be regarded as just 'envelopes' contain media using a CODEC not normally used with that particular type of container. If again hypothetically a .MP4 file contains instead audio compressed with say the MP3 codec then this would again confuse iTunes which is rigorously obeying the rules whilst other less careful programs might accept it.

Try using a tool like this https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo to give a report on the file. It should list the 'container' format and the codec used. Do this on a working AAC file and a non-working one to compare.

MediaInfo does not report to anyone except you i.e. the person running it. It is merely an independent tool which lists all the details of media files - specifically the container format, and the codec format.

As I thought I had adequately explained it is a sadly too common problem that media files are either incorrectly named or incorrectly built i.e. container versus codec.

Once you have the details of the bad compared to good files we would have a much better idea if the problem is such or whether it is an apparently valid file and the problem is something else needing further investigation.

Thank you for doing that as I would have no clue. The only thing I can think is that everyday we go on the Apple Feedback (which I believe goes to the engineers or the minds that be) and EVERYONE feedback the issue that the last upgrade has caused. Maybe that will open their eyes and they will do something. Like one person said above - resend out the last version 12.9.3 and fix the bug in 12.9.4 and then reissue it. SO FAR I am not finding any way to fix the issue without months of work.