Ask most iTunes users and they’ll agree that 30 second song previews are simply too short to inform a decision on whether or not to buy a song… but if the music labels had their druthers, they wouldn’t even allow that, which makes it amazing to me that Apple has successfully employed its clout to triple the length of iTunes song samples.
Confirming an earlier report to CNet, Apple explained that the length of song samples would increase from 30 to 90 seconds, provided that song is at least two and a half minutes long.
It’s good news for everyone. As researchers at Robert Morris University have proben, there’s a direct correlation to the likelihood of a user buying a song and the length of the free sample offered. Not only will iTunes users be able to inform themselves better about whether or not a song is worth their money, but Apple should actually sell more music because of the change. Uh… why were the music labels fighting this again?
