The concept of trying before you buy is not a new one. We do that with clothes, we do that with apps, and we do that with music. Now previously Apple had allowed listeners to sample up to 90 seconds of a song as long as the song itself was longer than 2 minutes 30 seconds, which seems fair, since long songs can’t be judged in which a short period of time. However it seems that Apple is rolling back on the 90 seconds and reverting to 30 second previews. Apple instituted the 90 second preview back in 2010, but it looks like they could be going back to the 30 second preview as reported by many iTunes users, along with the folks at AppleInsider who have confirmed the 30 second preview themselves.
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 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.
