ITunes PC Misery and Torture

[BritinUSA]

I don't understand what you mean by locked ??? I can change the volume/equalizer settings on ANY song that i have on iTunes....

[bountyhunter]

I don't understand what you mean by locked ??? I can change the volume/equalizer settings on ANY song that i have on iTunes....

I can't open the file in my editing software to allow me to change the actual volume level of the file or do noise reduction or tone equalization.

I agree the player has a little volume button on it to allow changing the volume while playing. I always equalize my tracks to a specific volume level so I know I can grab and mix any songs into a compilation CD and never have to keep changing the volume level when I play the CD.

FYI, I have seen variations in actual recorded volume levels as much as 12 dB (that's a LOT) between various recorded tracks. Sometimes they digitize the track from the analog master with the original source set too low.

[bountyhunter]

That's odd. I can adjust volume and equalize on every song I have ever downloaded from iTunes. I can also write them to a CD to play in my car...

Once you copy a song to a disc - it's no longer locked - correct?

I will have to try that and see. It would surprise me that a digitally encoded protection scheme would not survive a digital copying process, but maybe that is the way to do it.

[bountyhunter]

Since we're on the topic, I've been having problems converting the 8 tracks from my Camaro over to my ipod. Can anyone help with this?

Sorry.....

I assume that's not a real request, but I actually could do it. I still have a Akai CR-81D eight track recording/playing deck I bought way back when. I also have a stack of tapes from the era. I have been designing stereo hardware and junk for a long time.

If you get software like PYRO, it allows you to take input from an analog source and record directly into a WAV file (recording real time, not digitally). Any source with a line output can plug into the PC and make a WAV file. I have "pirated" a few songs that got recorded by my HI-FI VCR on Jay Leno for playback on my IPOD, so I guess the music police are after me by now.

I also make WAV files from old cassettes and rework them with the noise limiters and equalizer and you would not believe how good I can make them sound.

Edited February 26, 2008 by bountyhunter

[BritinUSA]

[

I agree the player has a little volume button on it to allow changing the volume while playing. I always equalize my tracks to a specific volume level so I know I can grab and mix any songs into a compilation CD and never have to keep changing the volume level when I play the CD.

There's an option in iTunes that can set the same volume level for all songs when u burn a CD. I can't remember what menu it's on, but it should be on the HELP INFO.

Found it.. called 'Sound Check' it should be under Preferences/Advanced

Edited February 26, 2008 by BritinUSA

[wgnoyes]

You burn iTunes songs to a cd as audio cd tracks. At that point, you can do what you want with them. For instance in classical music, Apple makes some really dumb decisions in splitting apart works into separate, um, "songs" that were meant to be heard as a single long work, such as the Liszt Sonata in b-minor. (Why apple thinks anyone wants to purchase a fragment of a piece is beyond me, except that they don't know squat about classical music!) So I burn the tracks of the sonata to a CD and then import the CD back into itunes, merging the audio tracks into a single "song" and the work is then ready to be heard as it was intended. (Note iTunes "gapless album" feature is not good enough for things like this; even the merest hint of a hiccup between tracks is enough to spoil the work.)

Edited February 26, 2008 by wgnoyes

[bountyhunter]

You burn iTunes songs to a cd as audio cd tracks. At that point, you can do what you want with them. For instance in classical music, Apple makes some really dumb decisions in splitting apart works into separate, um, "songs" that were meant to be heard as a single long work, such as the Liszt Sonata in b-minor. (Why apple thinks anyone wants to purchase a fragment of a piece is beyond me, except that they don't know squat about classical music!) So I burn the tracks of the sonata to a CD and then import the CD back into itunes, merging the audio tracks into a single "song" and the work is then ready to be heard as it was intended. (Note iTunes "gapless album" feature is not good enough for things like this; even the merest hint of a hiccup between tracks is enough to spoil the work.)

Thanks, and thanks also to Jay who sent the PM. I had tried to burn the CD thing, but it kept giving me error messages saying it could not burn one because they were not MP3 files.

When he explained I had to change the format to "Audio" in the preferences menu, it did burn them and then I was able to transfer them back as WAVE files which I could then equalize and edit as I needed to.

[bountyhunter]

[

I agree the player has a little volume button on it to allow changing the volume while playing. I always equalize my tracks to a specific volume level so I know I can grab and mix any songs into a compilation CD and never have to keep changing the volume level when I play the CD.

There's an option in iTunes that can set the same volume level for all songs when u burn a CD. I can't remember what menu it's on, but it should be on the HELP INFO.

Found it.. called 'Sound Check' it should be under Preferences/Advanced

Thanks.

I have some high level adaptive equalization software that does a much better job of equalizing volume.... not only peak volume, but raises up quiet parts so you can actually hear the music in your car. I think it's made by "dB Player" or some name like that. I also have PYRO software that has a bunch of very good equalization and noise eliminating tools. I like to do all the editing on the WAV files and then convert to MP3.

As for setting the actual volume level of the track, I use my own custom VU meter that does a really good job of indicating perceived loudness.... when I use that to normalize, they all sound like they are the same loudness. Digital volume adjusters go by the peak level and that is a very poor indicator of average volume level which is what we perceive as loudness. I actually built the VU meter and filter circuitry to drive it because I got so sick of the difference in loudness between cuts on CD's I made.

Edited February 26, 2008 by bountyhunter

[NMBOpen]

While reading this thread a popup appeared from Apple to upgrade QuickTime & ITunes to v7.6.1.

[bountyhunter]

While reading this thread a popup appeared from Apple to upgrade QuickTime & ITunes to v7.6.1.

Been there, done that.... you will need to laod service pack 2 for windows XP if you don't have it.

But, it's only 270MB. If you are on a dial up connection, your computer should be good to go by the weekend.