As we reported a few weeks ago, Apple were due to upgrade the iTunes store preview system from 30 seconds to 90 seconds. As promised this has just rolled out.

The length of these song samples has been found to be key to a consumer's decision to purchase music online. Robert Morris University filed a detailed report last year which showed that the consumer would be more likely to purchase songs if they could hear more of each track – preferably with access to a high quality version of the music.

Apple said to music labels “We believe that giving potential customers more time to listen to your music will lead to more purchases.”

Not all tracks get 90 second previews, the criteria states that they must be two and a half minutes long to get the longer preview time with shorter tracks still getting the 30 second preview.

Kitguru says: Does getting longer previews make you want to buy more music?

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