Here's my report!

1. It worked, after the following (things I learned) ...

2. Mathematica didn't recognize the .m4a format used by iTunes. Allegedly, .m4a files have better fidelity and are smaller than comparable .mp3 files. See ... http://whatis.techtarget.com/fileformat/M4A-Unprotected-AAC-audio-file

3. I used a cloud translation service to convert my .m4a file into an .mp3 file. See ... https://cloudconvert.com/m4a-to-mp3 While it takes some time to upload the file and then download the result, it's free, works as "advertised", and has an almost idiot proof interface. (My hat is off to them ... I'll be using the site for other tasks.)

4. Running Import on the resulting .mp3 file seemed to put Mathematica into an infinite loop. On a Mac it puts Mathematica into a "non-responsive" state. But, after maxing out the CPU for some time, it finishes.

5. Then, hitting the play button on the music panel generated by the Import does exactly the right thing, and the result sounds great on my laptop!

My thanks, again!

--Mark