Q: iTunes song preview time is cutting off.

Having the same problem and never have before. Problem didn't start when I got Verizon Fios.  I assume sooner or later Apple will have to fix this.  Hope sooner. 

I had same problem.  I turned off simultaneous downloads and now I have no problems with iTunes downloading only part of a song.

Of course, on the flip side, it now takes me 3x as long to download an album.  But this actually takes less time than having to go through and figure out which songs only partially downloaded, and the re-initializing the download via the "purchased" option.

I strongly suggest just turning off the simultaneous download option if you're having this problem, and waiting for Apple to get their s$!t together to fix the issue

I'm not sure from your post - did un-ticking simultaneous downloads fix the problem with itunes previews cutting off after six, or twelve or whatever small number of seconds? Or was your problem with partial downloads of already purchased songs? Or did it address both problems for you?  Thnx

I was having the same problem and still am, but my 21 year old showed me a temporary fix.  When you hit the preview, look at the slider at the top of your screen that is playing the song and take the little dot and slide it to the right.  This will give you the full version of the preview.

Hello all,

I am new here but have been reading all the posts in this thread and also have the exact same issue.  What is interesting about my situation is that I have 4 PCs in my network and three fail with the song preview but one works fine.

All are connected to Comcast via a Motorola Modem and D-Link DIR-655 Router. The PC that works is on Windows XP, the three that fail are on, Windows 7 64 bit, Windows Vista 32 bit, and Windows XP.  All use the same AntiVirus and all have the same settings. What is even more interesting is that the one that now works (on Windows XP) did not work at first, and one of the ones that did work (the other PC on Windows XP) now does not work!

I tried changing the DNS settings on one PC (Vista 32 bit) to 8-8-8-8 as discussed in earlier posts in this thread and it actually seemed to fix the issue.  I have not changed the others.  Will see if it continues to work on this PC for this is the PC I use to preview and purchase music.

One other thing. When the preview music did cut short and fail, and I purchased an alblum, it would fail during download and I would then have to redownload it.  After the DNS change that fixed the song preview issue was made, I purchased a new alblum and it downloaded fine on the first try.

I just refuse to make any changes to my computer, which is working perfectly otherwise. I won't go through ridiculous hoops for a piece of software that has obvious issues. Whether Apple acknowledges it or not, it is their problem, not ours.

well it is reassuring to know im not aone.  i dont even get 30 seconds. i get maybe 8-10.  still not fixed and its aug 21

As of five minutes ago, having done nothing at all to alter settings or  change my computer/wireless set-up, I checked and found that  itunes is now playing full preview samples. Has there been a silent fix from Apple, or is this just one of those occasional times when itunes decides to work for no particular reason? I guess I'll wait and see if this happy state of affairs lasts for more than a few minutes and, if it does, will it also survive logging out?

Five minutes later: Nevermind. Previews are back to cutting off at 5 to 7 seconds. Sigh.

Agree with you 100% Why the heck should the customer jump through ridiculous hoops because of an obvious apple software problem!?!? I messaged support about it three different times. Two out of the three times, I got the standard Apple scripted "it must be on your end, not ours" The 3rd time the rep actually acknowledged that there was a problem and that their people were working on a fix. Of course, that was roughly a month ago. I know I'm just one person who wont have any effect on Apple sales, but I refuse to buy another track from iTunes until there is some kind of fix. For now at least, Amazon has my business. The silver lining is Amazon mp3 prices are actually very competitive (and many times flat out beating) with iTunes prices.

I have HP desktop Win 7/64 bit, and I had to go into Norton Security Suite -> PC Security -> Manage Firewall ->Program Rules-> Itunes. Change to "Allow" instead of Auto, and the previews worked fine after that.   Coincidence I don't know.  But thought I would share.

RE: iTunes song preview time keeps cutting off

I, too, had this problem develop after the most recent update.  Tonight I finally resolved the problem.  I had to change my itunes compatibility to Windows 7.  I made the change, signed out of my itunes account then back on and the problem was resolved.  Like all of you I've wasted many hours trying to fix this problem with no help from Apple.  I'll list the steps below.

1.  Right click on the iTunes folder.

2.  Click on Properties.

3.  Click on the Compatibility tab.

4.  Check run this program in compatibility mode for.

5.  Choose the Windows version you are currently running on your computer (i.e. Windows 7 for me).

6.  Click apply, then ok.

7.  Sign back into your iTunes account and hopefully the problem is resolved.

Seriously, I appreciate people offering up the fix that worked for them. It's just that they are all so random. And they address so many unrelated aspects of the user's software. And, as I noted a couple of days ago, sometimes the problem resolves for a brief time with nothing done at all. FWIW, I don't have Norton antivirus and my computer has always been running itunes in the correct compatibility mode for my version of windows.

Come on, Apple, this is on you. FIX IT!!

I have the same problem, previews stop after 3-10 seconds. Actually it started for me after I installed the newest version of iTunes, never happened before. I haven't changed anything else on my PC. Obviously its an obscure bug in their software.

But all the complaints here ... really, do we have a right to complain?

What did you pay for iTunes, after all?

That's exactly what its worth!

we can complain because this is apple's interface software used for their expensive products.  and the only way most people xfer information from their computers to their apple devices.  and this isnt a dns or antivirus or any other issue.  like was stated in an earlier post if you drag the timer bar for the song preview all the way to the right the song will play the whole preview.  this might take a couple tries before results as it did for me but it is a work-around.  i had the same issue cutting out anywhere for 10-12 seconds usually.  we surely have the right to complain and the fact that customer service cant even help you is ridiculous.  we spend a lot of money on apple products, or at least most of us posting here do.  The fact that their program will not let you preview is a huge hindrance.

Thank God-I thought I was the only one with this problem(mine stops between 8-13 sec),but it is distressing to read that Apple is aware of this,and hasn't corrected it.