Windows – Do not play previews of songs in Xbox Music

windows 8xbox-music

I am currently using the trial of Xbox Music Pass on Windows 8 and discovered to following problem:

A band's album has one or more songs that are not available to be played via Xbox music pass but for purchase on the Xbox Music store.

When I choose the option "Play album" it plays the songs available for Xbox music pass streaming completely and for the songs only available for purchase just the preview of 30 seconds.

Is there an option to deactivate this by a setting that I just not found or is it currently simply not possible?

Best Answer

Unfortunately, this is not possible. In fact, it isn't possible in the Zune software either. If I open an album that contains tracks which are only available when you purchase the whole album, it will still play the 30 second preview if you add the album to your "Now playing" playlist (in the screenshot, note the playtime at the bottom for the selected song):

Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns album only track preview

You have two options of getting around this limitation, though neither are ideal.

  1. When playing an album, instead of simply pressing the "Play Album" button, add each song which is fully available to your "Now playing" playlist, or a new playlist. Then play that playlist.
  2. Use the Smart DJ feature. From my testing, playlists created by the Smart DJ functionality do not contain any 30 second preview clips.
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