Q: iTunes song preview time is cutting off.

This fix did not last.  Came back the next day and previews was back to the same issue of stopping after 7-20 seconds.  Any thoughts?

Same here.  5-11 seconds preview.  turning on Genius worked like a champ.  complete preview now

I have been having this problem for months.  Just looked at this thread.  I have Avast (free) and based on some of the suggestions turned off the shields. ITunes previews now work.  Haven't figured out if there is a way to "allow" ITunes and if that would allow me to get previews without turning the shields off.  But at least turning it off seems to work.

I think ALL of the fixes work for a short period ONLY except for the DNS fix which as far as I can see has worked for everyone permanently. 

Everyone, I have obtained the interest of Abdul in iTunes Store where he writes in today's email to me:

We have already been notified with this and our engineering team is working towards a resolution.

I request you to provide me the following information:

- Are previews cutting off only on your Mac or Windows computer or is the issue also happening on iOS devices such as an iPad or iPhone (if you have any)?

- Have you seen the clipping issue even if you use you computer in a completely different location (ie: different network or physical location like a library or cafe)?

- What was the first time you noticed this issue?

- Internet service type? (cable, dsl, satellite, dial-up)?

- Any firewall or anti-virus software installed?

- The name of the song that you are trying to preview.

- The time, date, and time zone for when you tried to preview the song.

I require this information for investigation. So, I'll reply to him and keep u posted.

Everyone, here's the email reply i got today from Abdul the iTunes Store rep when i replied to his fact-finding email (see my August 30th posting):

We are already aware of this issue and I have added your request for investigation. Apple is currently working towards a resolution for the issue you reported and your patience is greatly appreciated. Currently, I'm unable to get you an exact estimation on the time this might take. However, I will ensure to follow you an email as soon as I receive any information on this.

Note: this issue is mostly due to anti virus software, I request you to troubleshoot your anti virus software to get this resolved. However, we are working to resolve this.

I thank you once again for your patience and understanding. Apple wants your iTunes experience to be as enjoyable as possible.

Everyone, I disabled my Norton, and problem continued, so..... don't agree.  Anyhow, I've always had Norton, and iTunes was not a problem till few months ago...why suddenly blame anti virus??

@Kirameister I have Norton Security Suite and disabling any of its capabilities did absolutely nothing to solve the problem for me. I've had Norton (and been using iTunes) for quite a while now. Never ever had an issue like this up till recently. So obviously, something changed with iTunes, not us!

Antivirus software? Seriously? Well, if so, Apple has done something to cause this, not the companies supplying the software.

Ha, this is reminding me of the time a few years ago when all of the sudden, the electric power started randomly cutting out in my town. Five, six times a week it happened, all year round,  when the power had always been reliable before (except during blizzard season, but that was to be expected.)

After months of complaints, the power company solemnly announced that the problem was due to squirrels jumping on the lines, electrocuting themselves and cutting the power. Not that we were seeing dead squirrels littering the ground, nor could any of us figure out why we had this sudden epidemic of suicidal squirrels.

In the end the real problem turned out to be a sub station issue that was eventually fixed by engineers, not squirrel psychologists.

I have had the sample problem since at least April. I use McAfee anti-virus. Every song I sample, from bluegrass to heavy metal to Mozart, cuts off prematurely. On four or five occasions, I have found the song samples would play correctly but I can't identify any consistent pattern, and it never lasts for more than one log-in, and sometimes it ony works for a few minutes.

Appears to be a Verizon DNS issue.  I changed the DNS servers that my network uses on my router (not in Windows) to point to Google DNS servers instead of the defaults that Verzon pushes down to my router.  Then flushed all my computer DNS settings using:

C:> ipconfig /flushdns

And that fixed it for me.

Since my home network uses DHCP, the DNS change propagates to all the computers automatically.

Hope this info helps you.

  EM

@emmillerus interesting...I have FIOS too. I have seen posts about changing the DNS but I'm a little gun shy about changing anything because I'm afraid I might mess up some settings. Where do you type that for starters?

I'm the first one to admit I'm not the most tech-savvy person in the world, but I don't understand how the DNS servers could be causing this problem. The site connection is fine; the samples start playing. What is the role of the DNS servers in cutting off the datastream coming from the website?

To Abdul's questions in my home.

1)  Cut out is only on Windows computer.  Other devices iphone, ipad, and mac notebook work fine.

2)  I have desktop so I haven't changed to different location

3)  I noticed this issue about 2-3 months ago.  Has gotten progressively worse.

4)  I have Comcast cable and my computer connects via wifi.

5)  I have Webroot anti-virus software and firewall.

6)  Can't name a specific song.  I happens on 9 out of 10 songs previewed.  The time span until preview clips varies anywhere from 7-20 seconds.

7)  I am located on the East Coast.  Doesn't matter time of day.  Always happens.

This is not an anti-virus software issue.  We have the same anti-virus on computers and other machines in the house are not having preview problems.

I don't understand how this could be a DNS issue when other devices in the house don't have the same problem.  I also don't understand how this could be anti-virus software when nothing has changed.  The only change that has been made was when I updated itunes.  I have tried every suggestions on the message board....flushing DNS cache, repointing to google DNS server, changing the compatibility properties of itunes to earlier version of Windows, turning on Genius  However, none of these worked long term.  Changing the compatibility setting worked the best for the session when I made the change.  Came back the next day and back to the same issue.  This has to be an itunes software issue that started with the 10.6 update. 

I have logged two requested to Itunes Apple Support and haven't heard a word back from them.  Very frustrated.

I posted the DNS fix 3 months ago and told people that unless iTunes fixed their SW it would continue failing. I have been doing this stuff for 30 years and IMO this is caused by poor iTunes interaction with the network, particularily the DNS exchanges. DNS may only be one aspect that when changed mitigates bt doesn't solve the issue permanently. It is not isolated to Windows devices. It has been reported on Apple products as well. It is not particular to a specific ISP like Verizon. I has been reported on Comcast and others. It is not related to a specific anti-virus software. It is likely  in the interaction of iTunes with the DNS srever. It could be related to timing. e.g. Certain servers respond quicker most of the time and therefore are processed by iTunes with it in a different state. That is why some act more consistently than others. It could be caused by some servers responding with th eDNS response in a slightly different but valid manner. If not parsed properly by iTunes, this could cause memory overwrites, etc that can cause erratic behavior.

Bottom line is that Apple is arrogant and will only look internally as a last resort. They will delay and obfuscate the issue as long as possible. Their first instinct is to blam ethe customer. It is incredible to me that people are so tolerant of this behavior with products they spend thousands on when they wouldn't tolerate it from their dry cleaner. Apple has derived or stolen all the technology that they claim is their innovation. Look up Jeffrey Han, Xerox PARC, and DARPA's CALO project which was ruined when they bought it and made it into SIRI..

I use a Nexus 7 for $199 instead of lugging around an iPad brick for $600, have all my music and media in Google's cloud with copies locally on all sorts of devices. I buy from all sorts of sources from Amazon to Indie distributors like CDBaby with no restrictions on how I use it or what device I play it on. I have no issues with any other service.  Restricting people's choice is a losing strategy in the long run though it may be wildly successful short term.

Anyone who sacrifices liberty for security deserves neither - B. Franklin.