iPod frustration

[cellio]

I wish that my iPod (nano, in case it matters) did volume-balancing for playlists. If I play an album everything's generally fine because the publishers of the album made track volume self-consistent (usually), but that doesn't help so much if you assemble a playlist from multiple albums. Publishers don't always agree on the same volume standards. It's irritating to have to adjust volume from track to track.

Editing the tracks themselves isn't the answer, unless you edit every track you might ever play. Every track is automatically part of at least three playlists -- album, artist, and genre -- along with whatever playlists you create. This needs to be a playback option, not an edit of the source data.

It seems hard to believe that this isn't there, but I can't find it. Now granted, the UI for the iPod isn't that intuitive to me [1], so it might really be in there and just not covered in the documentation that came with the iPod, but Google seems to agree that it's not there. How frustrating, and surprising.

[1] For example, I am still utterly mystified by what sequence of key-presses I accidentally issue from time to time that lands me in a "rate this song" mode with no clear way to abort.

Comments

[blackpaladin.livejournal.com]

I believe there's a setting for it somewhere in iTunes, but since I don't have iTunes here at work, I can't check it. Next time I'm at my laptop (tonight), I'll try to remember to check and get back to you, if no one else has already.

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

Look for something in Options in iTunes called SoundCheck -- that will level the volume for all your music.

As for ending up on the ratings screen, you've pressed the center button too many times while the song is playing. Just hit it again, or hit menu. (Though if you actually want to rate the song, ratings can be used as criteria for setting up smart playlists.)

The documentation packed in with the iPod when you purchase it is not complete; it's just a QuickStart Guide. If you actually want the manual, you have to download it as a .pdf from Apple (http://www.apple.com/support/ipodnano/). Another great source for iPod tips, tricks, and tutorials is iLounge.com -- they have some excellent iPod 101 articles, and some very knowledgeable (if sometimes snarky) people on the forums.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

There's an option called "Sound Check" in iTunes (Preferences -> Playback -> midway down the dialog box) which is supposed to do this on the fly, but it doesn't seem to have much an effect. But I think the iPods don't do it. This is a pity as it's a fairly easy thing to implement.

You might try scouring the web for a 3rd party app to do this. It would have to edit every track you own, of course, to make them all the same apparent volume, but it might be a one-time process you could let run overnight. It would make albums sound a bit odd, as producers often use overall volume to achieve an effect, but it might help for casual listening.

TV too

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

I've been complaining for years that the TV has no way of leveling the sound levels for different channels, so switching channels means I need to have the sound control at the ready as well. I keep wondering if one of my friends who is geekier in the appropriate field(s) could kludge together something that would just cut off any TV noise above a set-able decibel level.