Apple reverts to 30-second iTunes song previews for new, popular tracks
It appears that Apple has recently changed its iTunes Music Store policy regarding song samples, reverting preview times for certain tracks from 90 seconds to the old 30-second standard.
The 30-second preview has been applied to Judas Priest's new release and an older album from Neil Diamond.
The exact timing of Apple's apparent reversion to shorter clips is not clear, though Twitter users have been reporting the change for at least one day. As noted by MacRumors, which first reported on the issue, the switch is affecting a wide variety of titles, including new and popular songs featured by iTunes staff.
Some users have reported the change was performed within the past few hours, with tracks previously eligible for 90-second previews now seeing 30-second time limits.
AppleInsider has confirmed that certain songs over the required time limit are, in fact, playing back 30-second clips. The distribution of shortened previews seems random, however, as a recent release from Trey Songz played for the usual 90 seconds, while Judas Priest's "Redeemer of Souls" album limited playback to 30 seconds. Confusingly, a randomly chosen selection from Neil Diamond also reverted to the old 30-second limit.
Apple first debuted 90-second previews in 2010 for songs longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds sold through the U.S. iTunes Music store.
Without an official announcement from Apple, it is impossible to tell whether the truncated previews are due to an iTunes glitch, or a more comprehensive change in store policy. Another possibility is pressure from record labels that no longer agree with the extended preview time period.
AppleInsider has reached out to Apple for comment on the situation and will update this report when a response is received.
The 30-second preview has been applied to Judas Priest's new release and an older album from Neil Diamond.
The exact timing of Apple's apparent reversion to shorter clips is not clear, though Twitter users have been reporting the change for at least one day. As noted by MacRumors, which first reported on the issue, the switch is affecting a wide variety of titles, including new and popular songs featured by iTunes staff.
Some users have reported the change was performed within the past few hours, with tracks previously eligible for 90-second previews now seeing 30-second time limits.
AppleInsider has confirmed that certain songs over the required time limit are, in fact, playing back 30-second clips. The distribution of shortened previews seems random, however, as a recent release from Trey Songz played for the usual 90 seconds, while Judas Priest's "Redeemer of Souls" album limited playback to 30 seconds. Confusingly, a randomly chosen selection from Neil Diamond also reverted to the old 30-second limit.
Apple first debuted 90-second previews in 2010 for songs longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds sold through the U.S. iTunes Music store.
Without an official announcement from Apple, it is impossible to tell whether the truncated previews are due to an iTunes glitch, or a more comprehensive change in store policy. Another possibility is pressure from record labels that no longer agree with the extended preview time period.
AppleInsider has reached out to Apple for comment on the situation and will update this report when a response is received.
Comments
A good decision.
An average song is what, 3:30 - 4:00 minutes long?
90 seconds is too long for a preview. 30 seconds is more than enough time for somebody to make up their mind if they want to buy a song or not.
Should there be free movie previews where 1/3 (30 minutes - 45 minutes) of the film is viewable?
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Frigging media companies.
Frigging media companies.
I think that you're right, and this decision probably had nothing to do with Apple at all.
This is only going to drive more people to internet radio. Or piracy.
What do music companies have to lose? Are they losing sales over 90-second previews?
This is only going to drive more people to internet radio. Or piracy.
What do music companies have to lose? Are they losing sales over 90-second previews?
There's already plenty of piracy and music downloads are down significantly so far in 2014.
If I were an artist or label on iTunes, I wouldn't want to have 90 second previews for my songs either.
But does any of this really matter? Are people really going to iTunes Store to give a song a partial listen? I just use YouTube and I get to listen to the whole thing, often with a video.
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I can *maybe* see it being a load issue. That's a 2/3 bandwidth cut on people just sampling tracks. Curious to see what Apple says.
Spotify has no charge for their music rental service?
hand waiving. if you can't tell after 30 seconds you weren't going to buy it.
just awful. Unbearable. I may go drive off a bridge.
the samples are usually cut into the middle of the song somewhere.
Just because you love Apple doesn't mean you have to be blind iSheep people. Chill out. It's a crappy anti-consumerism move. Just be honest.
Spotify has no charge for their music rental service?
No, you can listen to as much music as you want for free on the Desktop and tablets, though every 15 to 20 songs they interrupt with a 30 second ad spot, after your song is done playing of course. You pay for premium to get rid of the ads, higher quality though the free service sounds just fine, and the ability of listening to music on your iPhone. Have you seriously not ever use Spotify before, if not you should at least try it once, fantastic service, iTunes Radio can't hold a candle to it. My whole family is on it, has saved me at at least a thousand dollars a year on iTunes purchases.
just awful. Unbearable. I may go drive off a bridge.
Surprised you haven't done that already from using Apple Maps, I kid, I kid.
Siri, "Destination please", "SeaWorld", "calculating, Turn left now"!
Okay...........
Bllluuuup, Bllluuuup, "you have now arrived at your destination", bllluuuup, guuulllppp.
"Crap"!
I can think of three or four times that a 30 second preview wasn't sufficient. On those occasions I was trying to find a song with a particular passage, and the section chosen for the preview didn't include the part I was listening for. I couldn't tell if I'd picked the wrong song or if the part I wanted just fell outside the preview. This is a particular issue for those of us who don't know anything but Classical music but occasionally hear something somewhere that we'd like to add to our collection. Even for a typical pop song, 30 usually isn't enough to get a verse and a chorus.
I've been trying to come up with a good reason for cutting back the length and can't think of one. What's the perceived downside to longer previews? I like 'em.
Why would someone bother to abuse this feature when the full version of the song is available for free on YouTube?