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

I have been working with Apple support on this for over a week.

CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE: they have been very polite and done everything they can to diagnose the problem. I've had multiple screen-share sessions with a support technician, and he has been concerned and friendly. He finally needed to open a ticket with the development people. After a couple days, they came back with requests for screen shots and diagnostic files - which I supplied. At no point did anyone at Apple say "Not our problem" or anything like that.

THAT BEING SAID: we are still no closer to a solution. However, I can definitely state that this problem has been reported to Apple development: my case number is Case: *****

[Personal Information Edited by Moderator]

Yes, the Support Tech and Sr. Support Tech were nice. I also opened a case and it was sent to Engineering for review and after 5 days they came back and said not our problem. You are using a 3rd party application, so the problem you are having in ITUNES is not our problem. If you read some of the other posts above, the same thing is being said. I think a couple of us have opened case files on the issue. Keep us posted on your results. Good luck. The more that complain and open case files, the more chance we can get this fixed. They wouldn't even help me to restore an older version of ITUNES.

Hi CMK,

Thanks. That definitely seems more encouraging than the response from the Apple Support individual I was interacting with. I had done so via Twitter and our dialog is in writing. Here was one of the final comments I received after several hours of providing screen shots, explanation and video:

"Thanks for the information. For those tracks showing 798:57:13, if you delete that song, the issues most likely is your third party Switch Sound program. Does this happen with another albums which needed to be converted into mp3 or m4a files? Or if you go into extended song: Song Info > Options > change the time to the correct length. If this step doesn’t work, you may need to use a different method of converting into the desired files to play in iTunes."

To me this was a nice way of saying the problem was on my end and no action would be taken on their end. Unfortunately this individual did not comprehend that I was showing files that were resident in my iTunes library for years that all of a sudden stopped playing due to 12.9.4. Also that I pointed out the many people here impacted had used different file conversion programs. Understanding the cause and effect of an issue is key to resolving it. What had taken place when the issue started occurring. This individual lacked experience apparently and their comment was evidence of that. I tried to encourage he/she to discuss with others there in hopes there was someone with a more advanced experience level who could better analyze this. Maybe you had that person hopefully. : )

Stevedb

Not sure what this means for me. R theses later updates than what we did? Should I just stay with what I have since it is working and not take the chance of screwing anything up with my itunes?

If things are working for you right now you might want to stay put, however that document has direct links for the most recent builds which could help anyone wanting to revert from say 12.9.4.102 to 12.9.3.3.

tt2

Steve_DB...if it makes you feel any better I also had a less than satisfactory interaction with Apple support on this very issue at least initially. I believe the person I talked to placed the blame firmly on Audacity (which he was very happy to announce wasn't supported by Apple) and the issue couldn't possibly be an iTunes problem despite no other updates to my Windows 10 system EXCEPT iTunes. I am a SW developer/engineer by trade so I found the response infuriating and humorous at the same time.

Once I did some more investigation and was able to identify an interim workaround (import music in an uncompressed format and create an AAC version in iTunes), I called support back with the specific, albeit short term workaround. The support person I talked to was very helpful and interested in solving the problem. The individual took some notes and asked me to repeat some things to make sure he got the details correct) which I assume he was going to pass on.

My point is technical support experiences vary widely and how positive the experience is depends a great deal on how much the technical support person cares and how much they are able to help.

I am at the point of doing one of two things...re-import all my vinyl recordings into iTunes in uncompressed format and having iTunes perform the AAC conversion ( A lot of work!) or punt iTunes completely and start using a different service (e.g. MusicBee) to manage my music library full time. I'd revert back to an earlier version but as others have said, this is only a temporary fix.

The other posts I see where support points the finger at third party software is of grave concern to me...Apple should be fairly concerned that a change has been introduced that (I assume) inadvertently caused an issue with music being unplayable that was perfectly valid earlier. This same music remains playable on all other media players that I own. It's a clear functionality regression (and not exactly a minor one at that) which is not acceptable and should be corrected. Brushing such a regression aside as a "feature" or "the fault of 3rd party software" doesn't fly with me and shouldn't with any other user of iTunes. I am watching to see what happens. I am optimistic that the Apple development staff will identify what happened an issue a fix for the problem.

Rmridgeback. Thanks for the update. The whole thing is disgusting. I dont know if there is a way to get to management rather than tech support. Their responses r not satisfactory. With 35 years working in human resources I learned u need go to management to get things done not the customer support staff. However I get the message that the sr advisors r the top of food chain but my experience say that should not be the case. I too am thinking about changing programs but with 250 playlists and 18k songs I need to move slow to evaluate the right program for my situation. I am still sending feedback notices every day.

Thanks MNR. Your comment here cannot more accurately describe what has happened. The change was on Apple's end, not on the user/customer end. We simply are trying to use iTunes as we always have been able to do and are reacting to an action taken by Apple.

Apple should be fairly concerned that a change has been introduced that (I assume) inadvertently caused an issue with music being unplayable that was perfectly valid earlier. This same music remains playable on all other media players that I own.

Thank you for this thread! Something is clearly amiss with iTunes 12.9.4,102. I'm using a previous version of iTunes on another computer (also Windows 10) with the same music files and they all work fine.

In my iTunes library, each song is identified under the 'Kind' field as a WAV, MPEG, Purchased AAC, or AAC audio file. Using the 12.9.4.102 version, the WAV, MPEG, and Purchased AAC files all work fine. The ones that don't work are the AAC audio files that were edited using my wave editing software (WavePad Sound Editor by NCH Software). When attempted to play now, the duration is changed to 789:57:13 and it does not play.

I can remove the hundreds of music files affected from my iTunes library, then save them in another format and add back to my library, but that would be a huge undertaking. Not only would I lose all the data including number of plays, date added, etc., but also many of the songs are included in multiple playlists, so I would have to manually go through each playlist and reinsert each of the reformatted songs one by one. Not feasible!

I did uninstall this newer version, and uploaded a previous version, but I could then not access my library. I was getting the message that my iTunes Library.itl file was from a newer version (i.e., 12.9.4.102) and this did not work with a previous version. Until Apple can fix this issue, it seems this is the most feasible path to go, but when downgrading to a previous version, how can you restore a compatible Library.itl file so the songs will play?

It seems Apple is unwilling to, but can someone here summarize the step by step procedure for going back to a previous version? I'm using Windows 10. Thank you!

turingtest2 -- Thank you for the link. I uninstalled the new version (12.9.4.102), then installed an old version (12.9.1.4). When I first opened iTunes, the iTunes Library.itl was updated and worked fine -- I did not have to copy over to an older itl file as shown in the link. In any case, I'm glad to have my music back and can only hope Apple will find a fix for the new version soon.

Thanks also to Steve_DB and others providing helpful links.

Hello

I've been having this problem too on both my W10 machines and my MacOS Mojave ones. I think the issue is to do with tags, not with the actual files. I'm finding that if I upload a batch of files outputted as .m4a files from Audacity, some of them are good and some have the 789:57:13 problem. If I use a Mac app called Tag Stripper to delete all the tags of the dodgy ones, then reimport, then add the tags back in iTunes, they work fine. That's less of a pain than re-encoding. There's no obvious difference in tags between the good and bad ones, so I don't understand why all files are not affected, but hopefully this info will help somebody - maybe even our good friends at Apple - work out what the issue is!

Thanks for all of the info TT2. I went ahead and reverted back to the previous version of iTunes (12.9.3.3) and was able to restore things to normal. Obviously I am not thrilled with what has transpired but my vinyl transfer project can continue. My guess is Apple is aware of the issue at this point but will add my feedback as well...I am optimistic there will be a fix in an upcoming iTunes version

Steve - Thank You! I had about a dozen AAC files from various sources that had duration corrupted when I updated their tags in iTunes. I uninstalled iTunes (Win 10), rebooted, then installed 12.9.1.4 64 bit. The affected files were "fixed" with the proper duration when I selected them and started to play them individually. Holding my breath to see Apple's next move...

This is absolutely Apple's problem. I have many files that have been converted from other formats and are now show 789:57:13 and are unreadable by itunes 12.9.4. They have worked for years in itunes up until now and still work with any other media player. Please fix this bug ASAP. If not I and many others will find an alternative and never use apple tools again. Why is Apple so hostile to its customers?

Thanks tt2, have the same issue on a Windows 10 machine following the iTunes upgrade. Have created audiobooks in m4b format with even another program and same issue. Definitely an iTunes / Apple issue.