wyneken
New member
OK, I think I've found answers to my questions -- and I see I wasn't really clear in expressing them before.
It's true, the iPod shuffle does not support Sound Check. But I don't really like Sound Check, for reasons others have expressed in this thread. So I need to adjust the volume in some other way.
MP3Gain is a Windows-only app, I think? So I can't use that. There is a nifty Mac app called iVolume that analyzes the sound content of your music and adjusts the playback level within iTunes by resetting the "Volume Adjustment" slider. (You can do your whole library at once, or on an album-by-album or song-by-song basis.) This works quite well, except ...
Now we come to the iPod firmware bug. It turns out that if you adjust the sound level within iTunes (either manually, or by running a utility like iVolume), the results will sound quite different on your iPod. Specifically, the iPod will amplify the adjustments you made by a factor of 6.25. So if you moved the slider to +10, the track will play back on the iPod as though you had moved it to +62.
I don't know whether this bug affects music that has been adjusted using MP3Gain.
The bottom line, at least for Mac owners, is that you have three choices (that I'm aware of).
1. Trust Sound Check to adjust sound levels accurately.
2. Adjust sound levels so the music sounds right on your computer.
3. Adjust sound levels so the music sounds right on your iPod.
Options 2 and 3 can be automated with iVolume (the latter by checking a box that says "Adjust for iPod with buggy firmware.") Option 3 seems like the best bet for Shuffle owners, since the Shuffle does not support Sound Check. It may also be the best choice for other Mac/iPod owners who don't have total faith in Sound Check, like me.
It's weird, though, that Apple won't just fix this. There have been posts in this forum going back at least 1-1/2 years on this topic.
It's true, the iPod shuffle does not support Sound Check. But I don't really like Sound Check, for reasons others have expressed in this thread. So I need to adjust the volume in some other way.
MP3Gain is a Windows-only app, I think? So I can't use that. There is a nifty Mac app called iVolume that analyzes the sound content of your music and adjusts the playback level within iTunes by resetting the "Volume Adjustment" slider. (You can do your whole library at once, or on an album-by-album or song-by-song basis.) This works quite well, except ...
Now we come to the iPod firmware bug. It turns out that if you adjust the sound level within iTunes (either manually, or by running a utility like iVolume), the results will sound quite different on your iPod. Specifically, the iPod will amplify the adjustments you made by a factor of 6.25. So if you moved the slider to +10, the track will play back on the iPod as though you had moved it to +62.
I don't know whether this bug affects music that has been adjusted using MP3Gain.
The bottom line, at least for Mac owners, is that you have three choices (that I'm aware of).
1. Trust Sound Check to adjust sound levels accurately.
2. Adjust sound levels so the music sounds right on your computer.
3. Adjust sound levels so the music sounds right on your iPod.
Options 2 and 3 can be automated with iVolume (the latter by checking a box that says "Adjust for iPod with buggy firmware.") Option 3 seems like the best bet for Shuffle owners, since the Shuffle does not support Sound Check. It may also be the best choice for other Mac/iPod owners who don't have total faith in Sound Check, like me.
It's weird, though, that Apple won't just fix this. There have been posts in this forum going back at least 1-1/2 years on this topic.