Q: iTunes song preview time is cutting off.

I have the latest version of iTunes (10.6.3.25) on my Windows 7 pc, and I also have an older version (10.0) on my Windows Vista computer. On both computers the song previews stop playing after 10 to 16 seconds. I uninstalled iTunes and all its components on the Windows 7 pc, reinstalled iTunes, ran that ipconfig/flushdns flush command, turned off Avast Virus, turned off all Pop-up blockers, turned off AD Blocker Pro, and I still have this problem. It's gotta be a problem on Apple's end. It makes no sense that both my older computer and newer computer have this issue with different versions of iTunes.

I too had this problem and it SEEMS to have been fixed...  Do you have Malwarebytes Anti-Malware program on your system?  I turned that off and the first preview I played since played straight through...

Just a thought...

I'm going to keep trying to see if this is a fluke...

I'm here to chime in on this same exact problem affecting song previews.

It's been like this for a few weeks.

Will there be a fix? =/

I'm just curious if anyone has tried to disable unnecessary windows 7 services?  I am asking because that seems to be the only additional step I've taken as mentioned in my previous post. It's just a thought that perhaps one of the running services interfered with itunes. I could be totally wrong about this, but itunes has been working since. I just checked it again before posting and no still no skips. If anyone does try this step, please post the outcome.

I have Malwarebytes installed but it was off when I was experiencing the skipping. I only run that manually. I don't think the problem is related to Malwarebytes.

I did everything that 'therickman34' mentions in his previous post. Important to do a thorough uninstall of itunes and remove any left over programs in c/program files and c/program files (x86)

I also ran a registry cleaner to make sure no files were left behind there.

I am glad it worked for you ... but many of us are not tech savvy (I did the uninstall/reinstall, dns flush, winsock reset, virus program removal, etc.) I am drawing the line at uninstalling window services.  Why should we?  It is an Apple problem to be compatible with W7.  iTunes has worked fine for almost 2 years on my computer. And Apple is being very tight lipped about this issue. No reps to be seen to help with the answers. And this issue is not just limited to Windows users. Many Mac OS X users are complaining about similar issues with this latest update.

Sorry, it is not up to me to be a tech pro to make Apple software work.  If they want me to use their product, they need to figure out how to deliver it. 

Same problem.  Not real tech-savvy.  Running Windows 7.  Was getting 3-4 seconds of an iTunes preview song.  Lot of good posts here.   I did uninstall iTunes and reinstalled the "64-bit version" that someone else posted about.  That's about all the jumping through hoops I was willing to do.  Re-booted after install.  Went to iTunes store and previewed a song without problem...but then the next one stopped after 3 seconds.  However, I have found that if you keep hitting the preview button...like 4 to 5 times so you really have to WANT to preview the song..then I was able to hear a much longer preview, at least long enough to make me feel like I could decide if I liked the song enough to buy it.  Like others, I am not going to purchase a song from iTunes if I only have 3 seconds to preview it. 

I have heard from several friends with new pc's/laptops that they are having the same problem.  This is not a problem with the individual but rather with iTunes and perhaps Windows.  So messing with our own devices is probably not worth the time, trouble, and frustration.

I saw some other good posts here about Amazon and then how to get that music on iTunes (I want the music for my iPod Touch).  I don't want to go through a lot of hoops but I will go check out Amazon.  Also...I'm beginning to think it would be just easier to buy the CD! 

Luck to all!

Here's something interesting: I went to Kenny Chesney's new album page "Welcome to the Fishbowl."

- I played the preview for song # 1. It stopped after 10 seconds. I played it again, and it went the full 90 seconds.

- I then played the preview for song # 2, it stopped after 8 seconds. Played it again, it went the full 90 seconds.

- Tried song # 3, it played for maybe 15 seconds then stopped. Hit it again, it went the full 90 seconds.

- Song # 4 played the full 90 seconds first click.

- Song #5 played the full 90 seconds, first click.

- Song # 6 stopped after about 8 seconds. Played it again, stopped again at 8 seconds. Played it again, stopped at 14 seconds. Played it again, it went the full 90 seconds.

- Song #7 stopped at 5 seconds and a window popped up saying "Opening URL - Rebuffering Stream..." I clicked Stop, then played the song again. It went the full 90 seconds.

- Song # 8 stopped at 11 seconds. Played again, stopped at 13 seconds. Played again, stopped at 18 seconds. Played again, it went the full 90 seconds.

- Song #9 played the full 90 seconds, first click.

- Song #10 played for 25 seconds, stopped. Played again, stopped at 6 seconds. Played again, stopped at 23. Stopped at 7. Then, it played the full 90 seconds.

- Song #11 stopped at 11 seconds. Stopped at 29 seconds. Played again, went about 55 seconds and that "Rebuffering Stream" window popped up again.

- Song #12 stopped after about 30 seconds. Stopped again at 10 seconds, "Rebuffering" popup came up again. I couldn't get this song to play all the way.

After all that, I went to the new Linkin Park album, where you can preview the entire album for free. I just could not get it to play past 15 seconds, no matter how many times I clicked it. Most of the time it stopped around 8 seconds. I tried 20 times to play it and every time it stopped before the 20-seconds mark.

My internet is wifi at home. My computer is about 8 feet from the wireless router, so my reception bars are at full the entire time. I stream 10-minute videos without interruption. I play Grooveshark for hours without even one glitch. So I know it's not the wifi causing this.

I did this all this at 10:00 a.m. this morning (Saturday). Last Sunday night, around 8:30 p.m., I successfully played the entire new Smashing Pumpkins album during their free stream preview with no problems. But before that I had been having the song preview problems. It's gotta be Apple. Maybe their servers are overloaded. It's not my computer, because it's doing this on all three of our computers running three different versions of Windows and iTunes.

HEY APPLE! FIX THE SONG PREVIEW PROBLEM!! IT'S YOU, NOT US. WE GIVE YOU A LOT OF MONEY, SO DO YOUR JOB!!

Does anyone know how to determine whether you are running the 32 bit or 64 bit version of iTunes?

Ok.  I had been having the same problem this morning.  I was unable to preview full songs.  They were cut short just like what has been explained in this thread.  I was about to go buy a couple of CD's rather than risk having to deal with partial downloads, but I tried a couple of things first. 

I'm really not into de-installing and re-installing software, so I tried one something else and it fixed the problem for me.  I changed my program rules in firewall settings on Norton 360.  I changed my program rules from Auto to Allow for all itunes apps.  It works fine now.  I can preview songs without having them cut short.

Well, it must have been a fluke, because now the song previews are cutting short again.  Sigh!

I just changed itunes to run in compatibility mode on my laptop running Windows 7 and it works.  This could be short lived, but it does work now.

Right click on itunes, then properties.  Select compatibility tab and check the compatibility box and select the OS you are running.

Gave it a try... but it didn't work for me (Windows 7).  You didn't reboot did you?

It seemed like a good possibility since it seems to be a problem only or mostly on Windows.

I've rebooted a couple of times today, but not this last time. 

It could be a couple of things going on here on my end. As much as I hate it, I did de-install and re-install Norton 360 because I had an error message.  I changed the firewall program setting of itunes apps from auto to allow, then rebooted.  I changed the itunes windows compatibility mode to W7 as mentioned above before launching itunes.  I launched itunes and it's working perfectly now and hopefully it will continue to work.

@tee-dub86: Do me a favor and go to the Linkin Park page and tell me if you can successfully stream the free preview of their new album. If you can play it, I guess you've fixed it.

Sure, just do the following:

Click Start

Click Computer

Click Computer Properties - at top, on left, click to see your computer info.