Have just been in contact with apple care helpline,the agent was very helpful but did not know of this problem till i directed him to the forum and he then consulted his tech department who advised they are aware of the problem,something went wrong somewhere at the weekend and the people responsible for the itunes app on the iphone are currently working on it but can give no indication when it will be resolved,just a case of waiting and keep trying to preview and buy,i asked why nothing has been posted anywhere to acknowledge the problem and i was assured this would now bee done and all agents on apple care would be advised of the problem for future callers,so watch this space