Apple extends iTunes song previews in UK & other countries

Back in December 2010, Apple increased the preview length of songs in the US iTunes Store from 30 to 90 seconds. Seven months on, Apple appears to have rolled out longer song clips to a number of other countries – including here in the UK.

According to reports from users, the following country’s iTunes Stores now have 90 second song previews: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

One thing to note when checking the length of previews in your own country, is that not all songs have extended clips. For example, here in the UK, two songs in the current top 10 still only have 30 second previews.

Back when Apple first announced longer clips in the US, they sent out emails to music labels informing them that clips for songs longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds may be increased to 90 seconds long, while shorter songs would remain at 30 seconds. That doesn’t explain the 30 second clips for the two songs I mentioned in the example above though – both are over 3 minutes long.

Why it’s taken so long for Apple to roll out the change to other countries is unclear, but one likely explanation could be licensing issues with the various music labels.

If you can listen to longer previews in your country’s iTunes Store, and I haven’t listed it above, leave a comment below.

[Via Mac Rumors]