Australians who in the past have been denied access to Apple iTune previews will suddenly find that they have access after a change of heart by Apple.During the weekend Apple has expanded its 90-second iTunes previews outside the US. The extended playtime includes local labels and not just ones that had rights in the US.
Engadget said that new 90-second samples may have been dictated by Apple rather than directly negotiated with labels. Leaks revealed that the longer iTunes clips had been sent out as an ultimatum. Both the labels and publishers may have objected to the terms but might not have a legal standing to object as long as the samples are usually smaller than the songs themselves.
Many had been calling on Apple to grow the length of samples past the 30-second window that had come about with the very opening of the iTunes store in April 2003. Many regular length songs aren’t properly represented by the original length. Fans of classical and electronic music have often had the most argument since many of their tracks are longer and benefit more from longer samples.
Apple is one of the few to have longer samples on its music. Most pay-per-track services still use the shorter samples.
