iTunes Issue with songs ending too soon.

POSSIBLE FIX!!

I am not 100% sure this is a fix yet, but I have been having this issue for over a year now and I'm tired of it. I've tried everything in this thread and nothing worked so this is what I did:

You will lose your playlists, but IMO it is worth it because this bug is annoying. Take screen shots or write down your playlists to rebuild them if need be.

1. Close iTunes. Back up your iTunes Library files in your iTunes folder... Usually in users/"home folder"/Music/iTunes.
Back up "iTunes Library.itl" and "Library.xml" just in case by moving them to your desktop. Once this process is over, you will no longer need them.

2. Delete every file in the iTunes folder EXCEPT for the "iTunes Media" folder and the album artwork folder (optional).

3. Hold option and open iTunes. Choose create Library. It'll default and create a folder called "iTunes 1" in the same directory as your old library, so you should now have an "iTunes" and an "iTunes 1" folder.

4. Move the remaining contents of the original "iTunes" folder into "iTunes 1" and then delete the now empty "iTunes" folder. Rename the "iTunes 1" folder to "iTunes" (essentially replacing the old library).

5. In the iTunes app, go to File > Add to Library... and then choose the "iTunes/iTunes Media/Music" folder. This will add your entire library back into iTunes (as long as it was sorted properly in the first place)

I've tested 5 songs now and it has so far worked!!!! Please reply if you have any issues or questions.

This problem isn't new. I've called apple support numerous times and always get the same response as if they have no clue about this very pervasive issue. I've had this problem since 2010 and the only way i know to fix it was to re-download the affected tracks. This was pretty much ALL of my itunes purchased music, so since about 2013 I've never purchased music from the apple store. I just use amazon. That was until I recently purchased a new computer and somehow that made the problem occur in random songs even though all my music is kept on an external hard drive. Its definitely something wrong with itunes, because this behavior occurred to songs that had been fixed before, but after downloading itunes to the new computer, they are affected again. Thanks Apple.

I am using iTunes 12.7.1.14 and i'm still having that annoying issue.

Songs keep ending randomly before the end.

Deleting the mentioned files, rebuilding the index, I have tried everything possible to no avail.

The issue is only with my personal library of songs and the issue is present even if I stream song instead of downloading them locally from Apple Music. The issue does not occur if I stream radio stations from artists or genres and I also have issues withe the "shuffle" mode that doesn't really shuffle and plays the same artists over and over again. At this point I am really considering moving to Spotify.

So I just reinstalled macOS 10.13.1 and started a new iTunes library and this time I did not download the music on my iMac I am only streaming it and thus far no skipping or premature ending of songs... go figure.

I had the same problem with songs cutting early over the past few days, and today iTunes is crashing when I attempt to open it. I'm on Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.5, and running the same iTunes version (12.2.2.25). I heard from other friends that are running the same parameters, with the same crappy issue. I can use the Apple TV, but from the iMac is a no-go. If I hear anything I'll share the info with you.

gwbrubaker

I'm also having this issue.....only recently has it started happening...iTunes 12.3.0.44 on Windows 10

Hi Sparky-Markey,

I haven't seen documentation of this, but I think the new behavior of the checkbox -- defaulting to unticked -- is intentional on Apple's part, in cases where you haven't actually changed the content of the Start or Stop field. Try this: In Get Info > Options, make a very slight change to the Stop time (for example, shave off .001 at the end). Now tick the box and click Okay.

In my own tests, this causes the setting to persist, and may correct the ending-too-soon problem. (I can't find a misbehaving track right now to test it on.)

Please let us know if this works.

Just to show that other users are currently having the same issues:

I'm on windows with itunes 12.3.0.44 and it did happen to me
a few times in the past as well. I never ticked any checkbox before
ever since I used itunes so I guess this must be a problem on apple's site
not on ours.

Same here, I have iTunes 12.3.1.23. I've had this issue since several updates and I didn't tick any checkbox. The mp3 file plays fine with preview or vlc or what ever. The songs stop also on the iPod and the iPhone. When I connect the iPhone or the iPod with my car stereo, the conflicted songs stop as well but the time counter doesn't stop. It's like someone pressed the mute button – whereas with iTunes the song stops completely and the next one will play. So it must be some information that iTunes puts into the imported mp3s, that some players read and some don't. So annoying!

I'm experiencing the same issue on iTunes 12.3.1.23 on OS X 10.11. Even tried re-importing my music library but I was not able to find a solution to the problem yet. Some songs, especially in recently added albums, end before the actual song's end, and play skips to next song in queue. Really annoying indeed!!