The solution I found was faad and faac – Freeware Advanced Audio Decoder/Coder. It will decode unencrypted AAC/MP4 files and will happily ignore and correct the munged frame duration in the MP4 wrapper. I recovered a damaged track like this:

faad "09 This Devil's Workday.m4a" -o "09 This Devil's Workday.wav"

mv "09 This Devil's Workday.m4a" "09 This Devil's Workday.m4a.bad"

faac -w --artist "Modest Mouse" --title "This Devil's Workday" --album "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" --track 9 --disc 1 --year 2004 "09 This Devil's Workday.wav"

As faad was decoding the original track it showed that the MP4 wrapper’s duration was, but it corrected as it decoded it.

MP4 seems to have incorrect frame duration, using values from AAC data.
Decoding 09 This Devil's Workday.m4a took: 1.62 sec. 85.94x real-time.

When faad/faac were done I was able to re-import the track into iTunes and play it successfully.

Caveats

I lost some of the iTunes metadata from the original track, mainly the cover art. iTunes automatically added the cover art when I re-imported it, but that only works for music in the iTunes library. In those cases, faac has an option to import cover art from an external image file. You can do the same thing with iTunes as well.

If you have a lot of tracks to repair, adding the metadata manually on the command line is tedious. However, it could be automated with a simple script that captures and processes the output of faad since it displays all the track metadata as it is processing.

• 1 lb. Bacon
• 3 tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Chili Powder
• 1/4 cup Pecans, diced

Directions:

Place bacon in slices on a broiling pan, bake at 425F for 10 minutes. Mix up the brown sugar and chili powder, remove bacon from oven, and sprinkle the mix on the bacon. Return to oven, bake for 5 more minutes or to desired crispness.

Source:

Matt Springer, Bacon and Asimov

Ingredients:

• 1 quart Jalapeños, sliced (peeled Cucumber or Zucchini can be substituted for Jalapeños)
• 1 cup Onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon Salt
• 1 cup Vinegar
• 1 ½ cups Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Celery Seed
• 1 teaspoon Mustard Seed
• ¼ teaspoon Turmeric

Directions:

Cover Jalapeños (or peeled Cucumbers or Zucchini) and Onion with water. Add salt. Let stand 2 hours and then drain.

Add remaining ingredients. Boil 10 minutes and then pack in sterile jars and seal.

Note: 5 pounds of jalapeños is approximately 6 quarts when sliced.

<Download Recipe>

Session 1: Investigations Into Art-Making

This 3-day intensive will combine art studio and gallery visits with hands-on investigations into different art-making techniques. We will tour private art studios around Anchorage and have the opportunity to interview the artists. We will then return to the studio and incorporate these new influences into our own projects.

Ages: 7-11

Dates: July 23-25 (Th-Sat), 10 am – 4 pm

Fee: $375 + materials (Students are responsible for their own supplies. Supply list will be provided 2 weeks before session)

Location: Turnagain Arts Building + various artists’ studios/ gallery spaces in Anchorage

*Afternoon snack included, please bring packed lunch.

**8 student limit

Session 2: Studio Practice Experimenting With Mixed-Media

This week-long session will be in-studio and focus on various aspects of making a completed piece. There will be a reception Friday evening to exhibit the final pieces, all welcome!

Ages: 7-11

Dates: August 3-7 (M-F), 10 am – 3 pm

Fee: $475 + materials (Students are responsible for their own supplies. Supply list will be provided 2 weeks before session)

Location: Turnagain Arts Building

*Afternoon snack included, please bring packed lunch.

**8 student limit

To Register

Email Valerie Whitmore. Once confirmed please secure your spot by sending a deposit of $100 per student to: 512 W 6th Ave #3, Anchorage, AK 99501. The remaining balance will be due on first day of session.

About The Artists

These camps will be taught by artists Erin Pollock (from Anchorage) and Steph Kese (Seattle-based). Erin and Steph have collaborated on art projects for the last 5 years, exhibiting together at multiple festivals such as Bumbershoot Arts Festival (Seattle), Cannes Film Festival (France), and 911 Media Arts(Seattle). Erin and Steph have been commissioned for a solo show at the MTS Gallery in July ‘09. They have recently been selected by the Anchorage Municipality as instructors for a public program called “Art in the Parks.” This summer residency aims to provide public art education to youth in under-served communities.

This event promises to be a lot of fun and it will be a great opportunity to meet and talk to your Democratic Representative, as well as many other interesting Alaska Democrats along with some past and future Democratic candidates. There will also be a potluck provided by the co-hosts and I’ll be smoking a brisket or two for that, so you’ll want to be sure to get there before the brisket runs out.

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