Apple Cuts Some iTunes Song Previews Down to 30 Seconds

[RaduTyrsina]

Apple has extended song previews in iTunes from 30 seconds to 90 seconds a few years back for songs longer than two and a half minutes. Obviously, this was a move that pleased users, letting them listen to a big part of the song for free, before deciding whether to purchase or not.

However, now it seems that Apple has started reverting some track preview times back to 30 seconds, the change being reported by several users, on both mobile and desktop versions of iTunes. An official statement hasn't been issued by Cupertino so far. Here's MacRumors is saying:

According to one MacRumors forum user, some songs that are only available for 30 second previews were available in 90 second lengths just hours ago. User complaints on Twitter also suggest that the shift is recent.

“As early as a few hours ago these were all 90 seconds! If you remember, Apple made a big deal about switching to extended previews, now a lot of songs are reverting back. Seeing more 30-second previews now than 90-second on most albums I’ve checked.”

Not all tracks have been returned back to 30-second previews, and it seems that some of those that have been cut down have been restored to their previous length. This could also be just a glitch, so let us know by leaving your comment below if this works fine for you or not.

Source: MacRumors

 

[iJamesH]

I hope it's a glitch. That's why I like to preview songs on iTunes better than Amazon because of the length of the preview.

 

[s2mikey]

Seems kind of lame to me. What's the big deal with a longer preview? This will just force more YouTube/MP3 conversions which are free. Whatever.

 

[Elux72]

You know, I never even realized how long they were before. As said, the shorter times will probably mean more people going to YouTube or elsewhere.