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

Is there any way to know if Apple is working on the issue or even cares?

No, all you can do it post feedback and hope.

tt2

Yes, that would be a Mac only app. Sadly I don't have any example problem tracks to test for this issue or I'd be sure to report on whether or not the next build behaves differently.

tt2

Good luck. U r one of many who has reported it and it has gone to 'engineering" It is still surprising that they are surprised at the problem. But keep reporting it. You never know and we can hope

Were you able to fix genius at your end, or was it something support had to do at Apple's?

tt2

Did u just update your itunes library with 12.9.4.4?

ErectorSetKid wrote:

Apple should fix the bug(s) in itunes so that it can read properly created m4a files!

Indeed.

tt2

Yeah I don't have any updated versions yet either on either MacOS. But waiting to see when they arrive, and whether the issue is fixed.

Hi MD, I'm not aware of any updated version yet. I still get prompted for 12.9.4 daily.

I have had exactly the same problem for the past several weeks!

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2

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.

I am having the same problem. And I am also on the Audacity Forum and there are several others. Personally, I think it is an ITUNES problem. It didn't happen until the last iTunes update which was early last week. I have 2 computers with the exact same songs. My 2nd computer has NOT been updated and all the songs are perfect. On the computer I updated with the NEW iTunes, the songs from Audacity are showing 789 hrs. Now from all that I have tested, MP3 and WAVs that were created in Audacity and imported to ITUNES are OK. The M4a files are not being read right and are converting to 789:57:13 and therefore unreadable. I spent 5 days working with Apple and they say tuff cookies. I feel stuck and don't know what to do. Like I have mentioned I have 6K or more filed that now read 789 hrs. Now if you take that song and re-input into Audacity and convert it MP3 and then reimport back to iTunes, it will work. It is just a ton of work to do it. My songs do work on other apps including Virtual DJ that I use alot

In response to Masterdance and following up on his other thread.

I have also raised the issue with Apple. Just a reminder that I am running an iMac on Mojave 10.14.4, which makes me believe it's their problem. Given that, their initial response that 'Audacity is a 3rd party piece of software and so is not supported' is IMHO inadequate and I will follow that up. Other research also suggests that 789:57:13 is a fault code generated by iTunes to say that something's wrong with a file and it has occurred intermittently over the years with many earlier releases of iTunes.

Audacity is a widely-used program, that is frequently supplied with USB vinyl record decks. That's one of the uses I've put it to; to convert some of my old vinyl. I've discovered that virtually all the files created in m4a format (with several versions of Audacity) that I've tried from this source have had their running time altered and become unplayable.

I've also looked at the pragmatic solution of batch conversion programs (m4a to mp3). I came across the free / shareware one from MediaHuman, (there are others) which I have tried briefly (the Mac version) and which seems to work, in that the 'faulty' files quickly convert to mp3 and reimport to iTunes without issues.

This may be a way for others with far more files (& more pressing needs) to resolve the issue until Apple admit there's a problem. I have also updated to the latest version of Audacity (2.3.1) and plug-ins, but I haven't tried to generate m4a files - yet. I will report any progress in due course.

Thank u. I agree with u. Apple needs to wake up. I wish it was as simple as converting to MPs. Unfortunately I have 250 playlists with about 100 songs in each. Alot if songs in multiple playlists. As u know if I convert to MPs it sets up a new song this I have to find the playlists the songs r in and then delete the m4a songs. I have in total 18k songs with maybe 5k corrupted. Disgusting. Apple: Figure it out. Shouldn't be rocket science