Apple to Extend iTunes Song Previews to 90 Seconds in U.S.

[MacRumors]

According to Symphonic Distribution, Apple has informed music labels that it is preparing to extend the length of iTunes Store song previews in the United States to 90 seconds for songs that are at least 2 minutes and 30 seconds long. Shorter songs will continue to offer the current 30-second samples.

We are pleased to let you know that we are preparing to increase the length of music previews from 30 seconds to 90 seconds on the iTunes Store in the United States. We believe that giving potential customers more time to listen to your music will lead to more purchases.

Apple's email notes that by continuing to offer their music on the iTunes Store, labels are indicating their acceptance of the new terms. Consequently, any labels who do not wish to agree with the terms must withdraw their music from the iTunes Store.

CNET had reported just two days before Apple's music-focused media event on September 1st that such a change was coming, but it failed to materialize at the event. In a follow-up article, CNET later discovered that the change had been held up by licensing issues, which appear to have now been resolved.

Article Link: Apple to Extend iTunes Song Previews to 90 Seconds in U.S.

 

[Auzburner]

I'm really hoping this is true, but it will be interesting to see if any music labels actually pull their media from the store in order to prevent the longer preview.

 

[boscher]

Good

I hope this happens because sometimes you will get a little preview before you actually hear the artist singing. I would be more apt to buying a song if I heard the artist rather than just the intro.

 

[JPTech]

YES! I am VERY excited about this. But yeah, I wonder if any labels will care that much and pull their music. Personally, I think that'd be an idiotic business decision.

 

[Nermal]

Hooray, more US favouritism!

 

[Sky Blue]

cool, i was listening to some iTunes previews today and thought they should be longer.

 

[Corbin052198]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

It's about time!!!!

 

[thetechnologist]

Perfect Timing

I've always thought 60 seconds is ample time to sample songs so I believe 90 seconds is awesome. It drives me crazy when I hear 30 second samples composed of just a repetitive chorus or instrumental loops which turn out to be an ineffective in helping me decide whether I want the song. 90 seconds should definitely do the job.

 

[iDisk]

Win-Win

"Always putting the consumer 1st." Apple

-Bruce

 

[irishgrizzly]

What about songs that are less than 90 seconds?

 

[dscuber9000]

What about songs that are less than 90 seconds?

If they are under 2:30, they remain 30-second previews.

This is great news! I was just hoping for 60-second previews!

 

[Adisah]

What about songs that are less than 90 seconds?

Read the story.

" Shorter songs will continue to offer the current 30-second samples."

 

[Small White Car]

Cool.

The limit was stupid. If I wanted to steal music then both:
a) file sharing
and
b) finding it on youtube

...are much better ways than constantly repeating an iTunes preview.

The labels have some weird ideas sometimes.

 

[Sixtafoua]

I don't understand why we can't listen to the whole song, but 90 seconds is definitely an improvement.

 

[pdjudd]

What about songs that are less than 90 seconds?

Anything less than 2:30 will stay at the current 30 seconds - strait from the horses mouth in the OP.

ETA: Spanked!

 

[M-5]

I can't really see why the labels would potentially be against this. Almost all songs are available on YouTube anyway, so I don't see them losing any sales.

 

[Reelknead1]

Glad to hear, but will be happy when it actually goes into action. I have a feeling that some music labels aren't going to like this.

 

[nunes013]

this is great, i wish they said when it will take effect. i guess this means 10.1.1 update for itunes and 4.2.1 update for idevice coming before the end of the year.

 

[tablo13]

Wish it was made longer to at least 60 seconds in Canada too. 30 seconds is too short to figure out the mood of the song.

 

[pdjudd]

I don't understand why we can't listen to the whole song, but 90 seconds is definitely an improvement.

Probably because the labels don’t want to offer a free streaming service but rather to sell songs.

 

[M-5]

this is great, i wish they said when it will take effect. i guess this means 10.1.1 update for itunes and 4.2.1 update for idevice coming before the end of the year.

I don't think an update is necessary. It's all on the iTunes Store.

 

[Mattsasa]

meow! Good News

 

[goinskiing]

Wow, that's kind of crazy, I was just thinking about this 15 minutes ago when I was listening to some clips of a CD I've been looking at buying for a while.

 

[Mattsasa]

actually this is the best mac news all week =)

though i suppose its only tuesday

 

[coolbreeze]

Nice! More footage for free ringtones using wiretap!