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

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

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

I'm starting to wonder if Apple tech actually read these complaints !!

I can categorically say that this is definitely and iTunes issue. I have iMac with Mojave . Very recently certainly within the last month since the last update a lot of albums and singles that have been perfect for years suddenly refuse to play and as many have said skip to the next track. However if you copy and paste the tracks onto the desktop and click play they they play perfectly. I get the same error duration 789:57:13 , this is not a coincidence. PLEASE SORT THIS OUT APPLE !

Running my AAC files through the "Tag Stripper" app that I downloaded from the App Store on my Mac also worked for me - iTunes is playing the files successfully and their length is displayed correctly now. Thanks TimPollard and Denis1951 for suggesting this!

Most audio files contain the audio information, data, and a separate block of information that contains metadata (data about data) called a tag. This is where details such as the song name, track number, artist and album can be stored.

tt2

I assume this app will NOT work for those of us that have a PC and the songs affected? Also, when a new version of ITUNES comes out will you (TT2) or SteveDB be testing to see if the problem has been fixed? In order to reach out as much as I could, I sent an email to Tim.

Plays, skips, date added, last played, playlist membership, start & end time, checked, and a number of other properties are stored only in the iTunes database. iTunes will likely remember all of the details for a track stripped of its tag. With mp3 files you can even get iTunes to write the data to a new tag, but I don't know if this is possible with AAC. It might happen automatically if you make a single change. I haven't had a chance to test out this utility but perhaps those that have can tell us more.

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.

Just piping in that I'm having the same issue. .m4a files created via Audacity are showing up as unplayable with a time of 789:57:13 in iTunes for Windows (Win10). It is interesting to read that the problem appears to be with tags. I've tried removing the tags with a id3 editing tool and re-adding them via Windows file property edit but that doesn't resolve the issue. If I convert the .m4a to .mp3 iTunes is happy with the result. Sadly, I have hundreds of .m4a files so this isn't a viable solution.

In my opinion, Apple has always relied primarily on the iTunes library file rather than the tags on the files so I can't say I'm shocked that they may have made a change in the latest release that misreads .m4a tags. Hopefully, they will decide that fixing this in a future release of iTunes makes for a better customer experience rather than telling their customers they have to re-encode and/or re-edit tags on all the .m4a files.

Can 12.9.3 read a 12.9.4 library? I've made a significant number of changes to song metadata (I've been editing data on 20 to 30 songs a night for the past three weeks before I noticed the problem) and so rolling back is only an option if the older version of iTunes can read the new version's library file. Otherwise, I'll have to re-edit metadata on hundreds of songs...

I don't know what metadata is. Maybe someone else in the forum can help you ( TT2 or Steve DB?). My problem was when I updated to ITUNES 9.4.2. and all of my songs that were edited in Audacity and loaded into iTunes using M4a, they became unreadable with the 789:57:13. I uninstalled 9.4.2 and reloaded a previous version and all of the songs are now back working. In total I have 19K songs and probably 4 - 6K that have been affected by the latest iTunes upgrade. I hope that helps.

Perhaps changes you made either by uninstalling and/or reinstalling iTunes has changed the folder location that Virtual DJ has on record so that now it doesn't see your current iTunes? This link walks you thru addressing such an issue. It sounds like you just need to point Virtual DJ to the correct or new folder location.

See: https://www.virtualdj.com/wiki/iTunes%20not%20showing.html

If you still plan on installing new versions of iTunes, you'll want to take the steps for Virtual DJ after.

Additionally, I used "Uninstall A Program" within the Control Panel in Windows on my PC and did not manually delete any files or folders. You shouldn't have to delete anything manually.

The standard fix for Genius problems is to turn it off and then on again, however if you use iCloud Music Library that has to be turned off first before you can turn off Genius. If it is broken you could potentially try deleting the iTunes Library Genius.itdb file when iTunes is closed to see if iTunes will simply regenerate it on the next launch.

tt2

After 3 agents and 2 hrs, I got the Genius fixed. It was a simplier fix. I also suggested to them that the warning should not just include to turn on and off Genius, but a warning not to do that if you have Itunes match - we will see where that goes. I also discussed in length about the 789 problem that it really needs to get escalated. After 3 agents, I was on the iTunes side vs the Technical support side. Don't know the difference.

I also suggested that when the genious results error comes up that the solution should not say just say turn off Genius and turn it back on. That is not true for those of us that have Match. Last year, that mistake cost me about 3-4 months of work of which I still have not totally recovered from.