It appears that aifc, as well as wave, does not support audio files other 
than 44100 hz 16-bit format.

--
>>> f = aifc.open('Track 06')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File 
"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/aifc.py", 
line 928, in open
    return Aifc_read(f)
  File 
"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/aifc.py", 
line 341, in __init__
    self.initfp(f)
  File 
"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/aifc.py", 
line 321, in initfp
    chunk.skip()
  File 
"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/chunk.py", 
line 158, in skip
    self.file.seek(n, 1)
  File 
"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/chunk.py", 
line 111, in seek
    raise RuntimeError
RuntimeError
--

Could it be that the 'Chunk' class in chunk module may be returning improper 
values...? In any case, aifc refuses to open a 24bit 44100hz audio file. 
Does anyone have insights on this?