itunes volume control

Hi,

Wonder if anyone can advise me on this. When I import my CDs etc to itunes, I do file/get info and then slide the volume adjustment up to +80%. I do this mainly to get a bit more volume out of my ipods when I listen on the move.

However, I read recently on a website that increasing the volume in this way can actually increase distortion. Is there any truth in this?

I have read about downloads to increase volume from ipods, but don't really like the sound of these as they are hacking the original apple software and would presumably invalidate guarantee, etc.

Thanks

Phil

Hi Phil

I keep the volume inside iTunes at the max. I control volume via a receiver or the volume control on my iPod. Setting iTunes to max doesn't hurt anything. In fact, there is debate that setting it lower causes issues. Why not keep it at max and just don't worry about it.

You can fiddle with soundcheck to see if you like that preference for normalizing volumes a bit on playback.

So, I'd rip on 100% volume in iTunes and leave it there. Distortion is not an issue that I am aware of.

If it's not loud enough you might try better headphones (higher sensitivity).

Thanks for advice! As a matter of interest, if I wanted to do a global adjustment of sound volume of all my itunes library back to the default zero, or 100%, or whatever, how do I do this? Thanks, Phil.

Hi Phil - I think we should be clear about what volume control you're talking about. There is no doubt that the main iTunes volume should be set at 100%. But, I believe you are talking about the track specific volume control yes/no? I haven't verified this yet, but I suspect this would cause distortion under the right/wrong conditions and may prevent iTunes from outputting bit perfect music. I am very skeptical of this track specific volume adjustment and would not use it.

Thanks Chris. Yes, I think you are right - it is the track-specific volume control I have set to +80% by doing file/get info, then sliding the pointer to 80%. I did this to try and get more volume out for my home system and ipods. I have read now it may introduce distortion, so would probably like to get everything back to the itunes default setting of zero voume gain. Any idea how to do this?

Thanks

Phil

Chris (or anyone!),

Just to add, I have tried doing file/select all and then adjusting back to zero, but it does not seem to work!

I hope I am not going to have to reimport my CDs!

Phil

Actually Chris, I have ended up deleting my itunes directory as I ended up screwing things up a bit. I assume I have deleted the library correctly - I first deleted the songs from itunes, then emptied the Trash folder?

I will put it down to experience - when I re-import, I will not alter the volume settings inside itunes.

Regards

Phil

Ouch! Hopefully others here will learn from your mistake :-)

One thing you could have done is to open iTunes and create a new library and select a new music location. This would have left the old library and music intact in case you came across a solution. Then you could have switched libraries back to the old one and made a change. Oh well, no worries.

Chris,

As you say, Ouch! I guess the lesson I learn from this is maybe to spend a fair bit of time playing around with itunes, trying different output formats, etc, before you start to seriously import your CD collection.

Am I right about deleting from the Trash after deleting from itunes? I assume that removes everything?

Thanks

Phil

As long as you selected to delete the songs from the library and then selected to remove the songs from the computer you should be fine. The emptying of the trash is not critical in terms of iTunes.

Just to give my final (maybe) findings on this matter. I deleted my itunes library which was all adjusted to a track specific volume control of 80% and have done some re-importing with no volume adjustment. Previously, I had picked up some distortion on, for example, the opening piano chords to the Beatles' "Let it be". This distortion now appears to have gone. So I made a mistake which has cost me a lot of effort!

I read somewhere that the track-specific volume control increases the "hotness" of tracks to make them sound louder on ipods, etc. What it really does, I don't know, but for audiophile applications I don't recommend its use!

Phil