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

Then I don't know. Where you importing one way before and you changed the type of file that you are importing now.? Mine is very consistant. If I imported using mp3 (which I did for awhile), the song plays fine. However, I switched awhile ago to creating files in audacity and then exporting them using m4a. Those are the ones with the 789 hrs. I don't know - what a mess. Just weird that one computer is not working right and my 2nd computer which has not been updated is just fine. If you hear anything, let me know.

I have just discovered this problem, not having used iTunes for a few days, but it must have started at the last update. I too am running an iMac on Mojave 10.14.4. I have quite literally thousands of files affected having spent the last four years ripping my vinyl collection using VinylStudio which converts to m4a and has worked perfectly in that entire time. Until now. To say I am not happy is an understatement. I'm going to try another rip to see if I have the same problem with new files.

Doesn’t sound like it. The VinylStudio guys are pretty good with their support so when they say they’re going to fix it (presumably independently of Apple) I trust them way more than I do Apple. You might have more joy with Audacity doing something similar?

Darn. Not sure audacity is going to help. I am trying to encourage everyone to keep sending feedback to apple. Dont know what else to do. I am sending them a note every day. Somebody there should wake up. Naybe we should take it to social media

It would be beneficial if you would contact apple or send notice through feedback. They are saying that it is not their issue, but I believe it is something that occurred during the last iTunes update.

Wow you are awesome. They told me it could NOT be done. NOW that really makes me mad !!!!!! Apple is full of CRAP. I am not very techy. I am on Windows 10. Can you help me a bit more? Do I uninstall iTunes and then install 12.4.3 from the 2nd link you sent?

You are Brillant and a life saver. The Apple Guy had me delete something that I shouldn't have causing the older program not to work. I reinstalled it on a whim (had no idea what I was doing) and WHALLA - my songs are back !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with you that it is not a long term solultion, but at least I am back up and working on my songs and files. I have sent feedback to them everyday for 2 weeks to try and wake them up. I have yelled and been extremely firm with 2 Support Staff with no results. Not sure where to go as they don't seem to care. I don't know if social media or the news media is the answer. It seems when there is an iPhone issue (I don't have one), it seems to get on the news. I think this should be the same. I talked with an advisor yesterday and he couldn't even help me to reinstall an older version so that I could at least be back up and running. He told me he was not allowed. He also did not know about the 789:57:13 problem. I told him I was shocked and would have thought there would have been an internal memo. He ended up actually making my situation worse, but luckily I recovered a file he told me to delete and once I did that iTunes (one version back) was back up. I am open to suggestions. I don't do facebook and I am definitely not technical. Most of this stuff I don't understand, but I am willing to hound who ever needs to be hounded to get this fixed. I like the functionality of ITUNES, but this is the 2nd time in the last year that apple has done something and caused me major problems.

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]

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

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.

You describe a 'tag' for an audio file as an information block that contains data specific to the song, e.g., album, track number, etc. Is there also a '2nd tag' which contains data specific to iTunes, e.g., number of plays, date last played, date added, etc.? Or is there only one tag per file that also contains this iTunes data? Just trying to understand tags, because...

My main question is if you use an app to strip the tag(s), are they gone permanently, or can they be restored? In other words, using a 'tag stripper' app, you may be able to play the song ok, but is it at the cost of losing your data?