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iPod Updater 2006-03-23 Released

max decibel levels and hearing loss

According to this ilounge.com article, the European maximum is 100dB and the US maximum is 130dB.

In case you're curious what 130dB compares to, it sits right between close thunder and an airplane taking off (at least on this chart). 130dB can easily screw up your hearing if you're listening to things this loud repeatedly. As for the older guys who say they don't have hearing problems, it's true that everyone's ears differ in how much abuse they can take... but you've most likely just gotten used to your hearing damage since it's occured over time.

I'm in my twenties and play bass in a band, and I had a really big scare with tinnitus a couple years ago. Not only was there a constant ringing, but every sound in one of my ears - no matter how loud - sounded both muffled and robotic (a little like a vocoder version of Lisa Simpson, to be exact). This went on for a couple months, but thankfully it's gone away (but I had to not be at our last recording sessions, which massively bit). The ear doctor says that since it got better it was probably just a very strange inner-ear infection, but if that's what long-term hearing damage is like, I promise you that you don't want to experience it! I still play bass and still go see bands all the time, but I've always got earplugs with me.

For more information on this kinda thing, go check out H.E.A.R.'s website for music fans! They've even got a couple of Quicktime movies that let you know what hearing loss and tinnitus actually feel like, just so you'll know what you might be risking.
 
chubad said:
I disabled look for shared music in preferences and it disappeared. Possibly some one on my network?:confused:
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Looks like it. Do you have a wireless network, and if you do, do you have security enabled?
 
i think it is a bad idea, teach the kids to not play to loud, not to force a lower limit!

I like having my options open!(howevr i see were Apple is coming from, also i never play my iPod on max
 
I for one am thankful for this update because I now have my iPod set to a point where if my cell phone gets too close to it, it won't blow out my ears. :)
 
zap2 said:
i think it is a bad idea, teach the kids to not play to loud, not to force a lower limit!
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We're talking about something that can cause permanent physical damage. I agree that parents should teach their kids how to listen safely. But it's also nice to be able to stop the kids from injuring themselves if they don't listen to their parents.
 
Under the hood...

Has anyone taken a can opener to this update to see if there's anything in it that may be tailored to a next-generation iPod?
 
clonenode said:
This is great. I've wanted this volume limit capability for a while. I have young kids who love music, but I've always been afraid that they might accidentally blow out their ear drums if they worked the volume control incorreclty. Now, with a limit on the max. volume, I can be sure this won't happen.
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The volume limit is dumb. It's not like iPods are that loud to begin with. Not nearly as loud as a Sony Discman for instance. Plus, you could just change the volume of the mp3 files themselves with iTunes as a workaround, so there really isn't a point except for the winers that think "my kid will go deaf."
 
milo said:
We're talking about something that can cause permanent physical damage. I agree that parents should teach their kids how to listen safely. But it's also nice to be able to stop the kids from injuring themselves if they don't listen to their parents.
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Duh. How do others not get this? My kids (4, 6, 7 years) know more than most adults about things like this since I'm an audio/video nut and (specifically on hearing) since my dad has been at the top of the hearing aid world for 3 decades. But they still disobey!

It's amazing how headphones make people do it wrong, too. If I play my HT system at reference (it's capable of around 110db sustained and could cause ear damage), it scares my kids, and most other people. But with headphones in a noisy car or walking outside, they'll gradually turn it up to nearly the same if I'm not careful. Anything like this new feature helps, I wish it was on their Gameboys.
 
Cioni2k said:
Still doesn't fix the major bug that major video bug. Unbelievable. Watching user-encoded videos is still not worth the headaches. Thanks a lot apple.
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What are you talking about, my own videos are just fine, perhaps the bug is with the user not the ipod.
 
Tupring said:
The volume limit is dumb. It's not like iPods are that loud to begin with. Not nearly as loud as a Sony Discman for instance. No one complained about the volumes being to loud on those that I recall.
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iPods can put out over 115 dB, which is extremely loud and can cause hearing damage pretty quickly. Virtually ANY music player with headphones can cause hearing damage used at full volume.

Just because a feature doesn't interest you doesn't make it "dumb", it just makes you narrow minded. Plenty of people on this thread have said they're glad to have the feature. I wish you could do it on the shuffle.
 
JAT said:
Duh. How do others not get this? My kids (4, 6, 7 years) know more than most adults about things like this since I'm an audio/video nut and (specifically on hearing) since my dad has been at the top of the hearing aid world for 3 decades. But they still disobey!

It's amazing how headphones make people do it wrong, too. If I play my HT system at reference (it's capable of around 110db sustained and could cause ear damage), it scares my kids, and most other people. But with headphones in a noisy car or walking outside, they'll gradually turn it up to nearly the same if I'm not careful. Anything like this new feature helps, I wish it was on their Gameboys.
Click to expand...

The noisy car is the key. A house is a quiet environment, so loud music seems loud. With headphones on a bus or train or plane, the environment is so loud already that when you crank up the volume it doesn't seem that loud. While on a plane, I've had podcasts and books on tape that I couldn't fully hear even with the volume all the way up. I guess it's time to look into noise cancelation headphones for that.
 
Tupring said:
The volume limit is dumb. It's not like iPods are that loud to begin with. Not nearly as loud as a Sony Discman for instance. No one complained about the volumes being to loud on those that I recall.
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There have been negative news reports and parental warnings from groups like Consumer Reports on these babies for 2 decades. Not frequently, but they exist.

My first iPod is enroute, so I can't claim you're wrong about their volume capabilities. But I have a feeling you are. Perhaps it's an encoding issue. Or headphones or just your perception.
 
mcstewart37 said:
Does anyone know if the update fixes the problem on the ipod nano where it shows the wrong album art for songs?
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That was my number one hope for this update too. Unfortunately it seems not. I cleared all the tracks off my nano, installed the update, then put all the tracks back on. The first few songs I listened to were fine (which they often are), but when I selected a podcast to listen to on the commute home: wrong album art.

Until your post, though, I thought maybe it was just me - I'd googled for "nano wrong album art" a few times and never found much...
 
Actually, I'd like to be able to make it louder.

I like the idea of setting a limit on the volume, but along with making it lower, I'd like the option of making it louder. I listen to audiobooks in my car, and sometimes the volume on these books is quite low, even when adjusting the volume in iTunes. If the heater or air conditioning is going, the sound really gets muffled. The option to go below or above current settings would be a great benefit.
 
problems with finder?

has anyone had problems with finder after installing this ???

for some reason my finder keeps on stalling esp when right clicking on the itunes icon in the dock, any help??

also maybe this update was the result of a law suit in which someone was suing for damaging hearing, (class action suit maybe?)

anyhow, https://forums.macrumors.com/images/smilies/mad.gif
 
What a disappointment. Instead of fixing video playback issues, or bringing back the ability to toggle the backlight on and off, we get this? Are people unable to set an appropriate volume themselves?

I've reverted to 1.0, and only turn the backlight on when I need it. I no longer need to charge my iPod's battery every single day.
 
milo said:
iPods can put out over 115 dB, which is extremely loud and can cause hearing damage pretty quickly. Virtually ANY music player with headphones can cause hearing damage used at full volume.

Just because a feature doesn't interest you doesn't make it "dumb", it just makes you narrow minded. Plenty of people on this thread have said they're glad to have the feature. I wish you could do it on the shuffle.
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Okay, it's not dumb, it's idiotic. http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/techtalk/newposts/318/topic318825.shtm
 
JAT said:
There have been negative news reports and parental warnings from groups like Consumer Reports on these babies for 2 decades. Not frequently, but they exist.

My first iPod is enroute, so I can't claim you're wrong about their volume capabilities. But I have a feeling you are. Perhaps it's an encoding issue. Or headphones or just your perception.
Click to expand...
No, it's a setting in iTunes (and even SoundJam). Just edit the ID3 tag and you'll see. You can clearly change the volume of the .mp3 file itslef, and it DOES work and sound louder. Just plug in your iPod, select the songs (Command+A) and then, Get Info (Command+I) and move the volume slider up (or down) and save them. The volume will now be changed. It can also be done on a per-track basis, just like the EQ settings. And I do have an iPod, so I'm not making it up. Also, look at post 14, Macnoviz knows it works too.
 
chubad said:
I disabled look for shared music in preferences and it disappeared. Possibly some one on my network?:confused:
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Yes, those blue librarys are shared librarys, you can either disable sharing on your computer, or find the offending computer and disable the sharing in limewire there.

Note: the sharing works using bonjour which only works over a local network, not over the internet or anything like that
 
Tupring said:
The volume limit is dumb.
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That's why it's an option. ;) If you don't care, or you use something other than earphones to listen to your music, like when I play mine in my car and I have to turn it up because my cassette adapter sucks, you don't have to use it. That's what makes it so brilliant. It's an option for those who would. :rolleyes:

I have a shuffle that works fine that I never play too loud in my ears anyway, so for me it's actually pretty pointless.
 
cobraverde said:
still doesn't fix the backlight problems that appeared with the last update... on my 5g, holding 'menu' no longer toggles the backlight, but instead takes you to the top of the menu. meaning, most significantly, that when watching movies you cannot choose to have the blacklight off. lame
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That's not a problem or a bug. If the backlight were off, you wouldn't be able to see anything while watching videos! Without the backlight, you'd lose almost all color and it'd just be a shadowy, murky mess of black and dark grey.
 
Modano said:
I wonder if this will let me raise the volume cap on my nano. It's too quiet for my liking.
Click to expand...
Just raise the volume level from within iTunes itself. Edit the ID3 tags of the songs and move the volume slider on the ID3 tag window.
 
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