diff --git a/beets/ui/__init__.py b/beets/ui/__init__.py
index 0f418ace3..3503842cb 100644
--- a/beets/ui/__init__.py
+++ b/beets/ui/__init__.py
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ def human_bytes(size):
 
 def human_seconds(interval):
     """Formats interval, a number of seconds, as a human-readable time
-    interval.
+    interval using English words.
     """
     units = [
         (1, 'second'),
@@ -321,6 +321,13 @@ def human_seconds(interval):
 
     return "%3.1f %ss" % (interval, suffix)
 
+def human_seconds_short(interval):
+    """Formats a number of seconds as a short human-readable M:SS
+    string.
+    """
+    interval = int(interval)
+    return u'%i:%02i' % (interval // 60, interval % 60)
+
 # ANSI terminal colorization code heavily inspired by pygments:
 # http://dev.pocoo.org/hg/pygments-main/file/b2deea5b5030/pygments/console.py
 # (pygments is by Tim Hatch, Armin Ronacher, et al.)
diff --git a/beets/ui/commands.py b/beets/ui/commands.py
index 41928a99f..c4b55bfed 100644
--- a/beets/ui/commands.py
+++ b/beets/ui/commands.py
@@ -185,10 +185,18 @@ def show_change(cur_artist, cur_album, items, info, dist, color=True):
         if not item:
             missing_tracks.append((i, track_info))
             continue
+
+        # Get displayable LHS and RHS values.
         cur_track = unicode(item.track)
         new_track = unicode(i+1)
         cur_title = item.title
         new_title = track_info.title
+        if item.length and track_info.length:
+            cur_length = ui.human_seconds_short(item.length)
+            new_length = ui.human_seconds_short(track_info.length)
+            if color:
+                cur_length = ui.colorize('red', cur_length)
+                new_length = ui.colorize('red', new_length)
         
         # Possibly colorize changes.
         if color:
@@ -201,14 +209,24 @@ def show_change(cur_artist, cur_album, items, info, dist, color=True):
         if not item.title.strip():
             cur_title = displayable_path(os.path.basename(item.path))
         
-        if cur_title != new_title and cur_track != new_track:
-            print_(u" * %s (%s) -> %s (%s)" % (
-                cur_title, cur_track, new_title, new_track
-            ))
-        elif cur_title != new_title:
-            print_(u" * %s -> %s" % (cur_title, new_title))
-        elif cur_track != new_track:
-            print_(u" * %s (%s -> %s)" % (item.title, cur_track, new_track))
+        if cur_title != new_title:
+            lhs, rhs = cur_title, new_title
+            if cur_track != new_track:
+                lhs += u' (%s)' % cur_track
+                rhs += u' (%s)' % new_track
+            print_(u" * %s -> %s" % (lhs, rhs))
+        else:
+            line = u' * %s' % item.title
+            display = False
+            if cur_track != new_track:
+                display = True
+                line += u' (%s -> %s)' % (cur_track, new_track)
+            if item.length and track_info.length and \
+                    abs(item.length - track_info.length) > 2.0:
+                display = True
+                line += u' (%s -> %s)' % (cur_length, new_length)
+            if display:
+                print_(line)
     for i, track_info in missing_tracks:
         line = u' * Missing track: %s (%d)' % (track_info.title, i+1)
         if color:
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 8479320db..daa2502a4 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ Changelog
   albums.
 * The autotagger now also tolerates tracks whose track artists tags are set
   to "Various Artists".
+* When previewing metadata differences, the importer now shows discrepancies in
+  track length.
 * Importing with ``import_delete`` enabled now cleans up empty directories that
   contained deleting imported music files.
 * Similarly, ``import_delete`` now causes original album art imported from the