Q: iTunes song preview time is cutting off.

Gibby,

  I understand what you are saying, and that may be true -- but why should it be incumbant on the itunes users to have their ISP's fix their servers?  Apple should be ringing those ISP's off the hook to make sure their users can access the previews and songs that they want to without difficulty.  Considering how long this has gone on, it seems doubtful that is happening. 

Your DNS solution does work though, it was suggested much earlier in this thread by another user.  Even so, I can't reward such corporate arrogance by continuing to purchase product from them.

I think the bottom line is Apple is reluctant to throw people at an Apple/Windows problem, especially when an update is around the corner (10.6 to 10.7).  Apple chooses not to be transparent and won’t admit a problem until they have a solution. 

The other issue is that it’s much easier to test for, and diagnose problems in the closed Apple OS environment.  In Appleworld, if you have an update, the suite of software that Apple checks for compatibility is relatively small.  Windows developer can’t possibly test all the Hardware and software variables that are out there so it’s much better to see which software titles break and issue a patch for the important ones (like iTunes),

My angle?  It’s an Apple problem and Apple’s fault and I would rather simply buy my music elsewhere than spend more than 10 troubleshooting.  Fortunately, Google DNS solved the problem for me right way. (so far)

Greg

From the research I've done, dancepig is correct.  If you have multiple computers on your network, you either have to set up each computer individually with the DNS settings or you can just make the change once on the router.  In my case, I've got more than 4 computers on my network, so it was much simpler to change the router settings. 

The other thing I liked about the router option is that most people (friends, family) won't know how to get into your router settings, whereas many probably know how to mess around with Windows settings.

Again, hope this helps.

I was one of the early posters in May, have followed the thread all along and thank all the people who have put forth suggestions to find a solution to this very annoying issue.

Gibby, your posts are very informative and hopefully have provided a permanent solution to those who have tried your suggestions. For myself, I totally agree with barbpf 's post today at 10:36am:

     "And I'm sorry but I have to say it -- this is absolutely ON APPLE. Can you imagine if suddenly every Kindle user had to change DNS settings to get their books? Or if I had to reconfigure DNS everytime I did something on Facebook or some other network? The bottom line is that MOST people -- myself included - are absolutely not comfortable reconfiguring DNS for any number of reasons."

This issue has baffled me all along because there are so many people having this problem and they are running different operating systems, different versions of the same OS, different versions of itunes, have different ISP providers and even from different countries.

Gibby, I understand your explanations but there are still things going on on my end that don't make sense to me according to your explanations.

I have not made any adjustments to my computer or the DNS settings since this started and for some reason after reading your recent posts I decided to do a test today.

I previewed the first 7 songs on an album plus a few random songs to see what would happen. I previewed a song then immediately tried a second time to see if each song would play for the same amount of time. Not all did.

So does this mean that with every single click of a preview, itunes servers are sending out data retrieval requests and what is coming back is like a game of Russian Roulette with those parts continually being retrieved from different sources? If that is not the case and each song has specific sources assigned to it, then this whole thing makes absolutely no sense unless I am completely misunderstanding it. Actually what I don't understand is WHY a these previews are compiled from so many source. Seems like a very unnecessary complexity.

Anyway here is what happened in my test:

Album song #1     1:30

Album song #1     1:26

Album song #2     1:30

Album song #2     1:30

Album song #3     1:30

Album song #3     1:06

Album song #4     0:07

Album song #4     0:40

Album song #5     0:37

Album song #5     1:30

Album song #6     1:30

Album song #6     1:30

Album song #7     1:30

Album song #7     1:30

Then I went back and previewed song 1, 2, 3 & 4 again (just once through) and all played for 1:30

I then went and previewed some random songs on itunes:

song #1               1:30

song #2               1:30

song #3               1:30

song #4               1:26  *

song #5               1:30

song #6               1:30

song #7               1:30

One note: today I got a lot more 1:30 previews than I have been getting all summer. Since the issue started in May (for me) I have always had a few 1:30's but most were cut off around 5-7 seconds.

I've been  reluctant to rejoice...but, for the most part (well, yes, for the most part) things have been working well.  I don't know if this is an issue, or if it's important, or if it even matters, but my ISP told me that they switch ISP designations every couple of days.  I made that up, because I can't remember exactly what he told me...but it had to do with numbers...no, it didn't make sense to me either.  But they change it every few days...for me, I am able to get my graphics, playlists, 90-second previews....WT.hey. I might even buy something now.  Life is just so darn good!!

photogirl52,

Could you please provide me with a few details. How is you ISP, are you a windows or Mac user, which version of itunes are you using, Are you using your service providers DNS or open of the public DNS servers (ie GoogleDNS or OpenDNS)

I have been one of the "conscientious objectors who refused to make any changes to my own set-up to address what should be Apple's problem to fix. However, I did download the Apple update 10.7 for Windows 64 on 9/16. I don't know if it's coincidence or a silent fix or if the work GibbyOH has been doing behind the scenes has addressed the server problem, but I seem to be getting full previews now. Will update if this changes.

And here's my update, less than five minutes after I posted the above. Nope.. Back to six second cut-offs after two days of 90 second previews.

Yup, the iTunes update does not fix the problem.  Tried that first then went to Google DNS which is still working.

Hi Gibby,

I live in Canada, my ISP is Bell and I use the Windows 7 64-bit OS. iTunes version 10.5.1.42 which is why as I said in my initial posts, I didn't believe the problem was with the 10.6 update as many here were saying.

The issue is NOT happening on my other computer running Windows XP Home, same ISP, with iTunes version 10.2.1.1

Both are using my service provider's DNS. I had no idea about changing the DNS until people started posting about it here and I have not done that so far.

Hope this is what you were asking for.

Update #3:

I'm still experiencing the same problems that began in mid May of this year. Song previews occasionally play the full 90 sec. but more often than not play anywhere between 7 and 20 sec. Purchased songs, although they appear to have downloaded without error, are sometimes incomplete when I play them. That can be corrected by deleting them from my library and downloading them again through "My Purchases". It's just an inconvenient pain in the arse.

This began in May before I'd upgraded to iTunes 10.6. At that point I upgraded but the problem persisted. Now I've upgraded to 10.7 hoping that iTunes / Apple had come up with a fix, but obviously not. Yesterday after the latest upgrade song previews were playing in full, but today it's back to the 5 - 20 sec. previews

I'm in Canada. My ISP is Rogers and I'm running Window 7 / 64bit. I've concluded that the source of the problem is iTunes / Apple.

I installed the iTunes upgrade today.  So far the previews are playing completely.  I will write back here incase they stop working again.

As an updated to my others posts ..... after 6 months or more of itunes preview cutting off after 30 seconds for me, i can safely say, the problem is now gone.

Yesterday, I got a new modem from my isp as mine died. It is a different brand, different modem completely, and today, all day, my previews have been working flawlessly .... go figure :/

Well, well, well....finally another (and maybe the last) post in this thread.  So many people did some diligent research here and provided us with a number of thoughtful solutions.  But the same solution never worked for everyone.  And now?  Hello!!!  No more problems (I HOPE).  Could it possibly be that iTunes recognized, identified and fixed the problem??  I'll bet we'll never know.  Whatever - it's been a fun ride, huh?

Amazing isn't it?  For months they refused to acknowledge the problem yet it miraculously disappeared. This is yet another example of Apple's arrogance and pathetic customer support. To that end I no longer use ITunes. I have switched to Amazon which so far has been problem free and is often less expensive. More importantly their customer service is superb. They respond nearly immediately or within a few hours with no charge, I assume because YOU HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR THEIR PRODUCT. What a concept.

Samsung is fast approaching parody with Apple products so hopefully Amazon and Samsung will knock Apple off their arrogant perch.

Goodbye and good riddance.

Unfortunately, Amazon.ca doesn't offer mp3s...and they are not available from Amazon.com in Canada.  I haven't had a satisfactory explanation from either, so for the time being, my options are limited.