Q: iTunes song preview time is cutting off.

  Well, that didn't last.  I did notice that if you play the same track over and over...it cuts out a different times, from 4 to 10 seconds.  That's about how often I check my e-mail, eagerly awaiting Apple's response which I expect momentarily.

Duh.

This is crazy.  My previews play for about 20 seconds, not nearly enough to make a buying decision.  I sent Apple iTunes Support an email a few days ago and they told me to uninstall iTunes, so I did, and then cleanly reinstalled newest version; it didn't work. 

In the email, they said if it didn't work to call support and gave me a number.  When I got through, the support person said she only worked with devices and that I would have to go to the iTunes team, which is where I started.........frustrating to say the least; they have me in a loop.

They have actually perfected the "art of the loop".  By now you've seen this whole thread so you know but don't bother wasting your time with support. Everything they will tell you to do has been done (over and over) and hasn't worked.  I suggest moving to Amazon and just staying subscribed to this thread in case Apple ever cares to provide any level of customer service.

I hear you on that.  I just went to check out Amazon but their previews only play for about 30 seconds anyway; so not much better.

Do you just download MP3s from there and import into iTunes?  I have purchased on Amazon in the past but have become very used to iTunes.  And of course it's one RING to rule them all because I have the iPhone, iPad, and iPod.  OMG, I even have the AppleTV!!  After writing that I realize how dependent I've become on Apple.  I'm sure that's why they have made everything so easy and automatic.  But it's issues like this that get their ardent customers to look elsewhere.

One more time.  Has everyone who says it isn't working and has tried all of the "quirky" solutions tried changing the DNS?  Because that seems to be a permanent solution that works.  Change the DNS to Google or something equally reliable.  8.8.8.8   or   8.8.4.4

(Yes Apple should solve the problem so it works regardless but in the interim this is a solid solution that does work.)

I tried this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1527 which I believe flushes the DNS and which a few people said worked and it doesn't. I'm using WIndows Home Premium. How do I change the DNS?

I am only getting 6-8 seconds on Itunes so 30 seconds is HUGE. It's defintiely enough for me to decide. If I could get that from iTunes I'd be thrilled. With all your hardware though -- I'd go to a store - seriously - let them fix it.

Relative to Amazon -- just download into your music library and it will sync when you connect your Ipod. At leat that' what works for me but I''m on a PC.

There is another forum on this at: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3981610?start=60&tstart=0

There is a suggestion to change your DNS Server to Google and I tried it, writing down my other one first.  It worked!!  You can read the details in the other post.

It's not hard to do at all.

UPDATE:

Someone just posted that if you flush the DNS cache it works/doesn't work.  I tried it, without admin rights, and it worked (so far).  I've listened to three different previews all the way through.  Hopefully Apple will get their butts moving and fix it so we don't have to do that, but at least it's a temporary fix.

Original Article on how to flush the dns:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1527

I tried to follow the instructions from the Windows forum on how to change the DNS and it didn't work. I kept getting DNS invalid (using the 8.8.8.8 for Google). Does anyone have links to any other tutorials? Obviously not very technical and clearly I am doing somethign wrong.

You may be trying to change the IPv6 verses IPv4.  I ran into the same thing.  I changed both to the Google Public DNS.  Here are the directions I used: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using

I got to the settings on my Windows PC by right clicking Network on my desktop and going to Properties; Change adapter settings; right clicking the IPv6 and then the IPv4.  To enter the IPv4 type 8 then period, and so on.  I'm no expert but hope that helps.

That was it Donbl! Thank you so much. It worked. So far, so good. 

Whooohooooo!

Not available in Canada.  Yet.  Forever??  No wonder people look to "Free" download sites, or those with minimal charges.  Cripes.  Now I have success on one computer, and not on another, both running the exact same configurations.  After 39 years of teaching, I've just retired.  Guess this has become part of my "retirement plan"!!

I've noticed that my song preview time only cuts off if I am using a certain network, but at other places the previews work fine. Try another network.