the EU is at it again...

[Mike70]

the latest screwball idea from the geniuses at the EU is to put maximum volume controls in MP3 players and other devices that play music in order to protect people's hearing.

WTF??!!

the devices would come with instructions on how to override the controls but still, if i lived in the EU i'd find this insulting as all hell.

why must these folks treat their citizens as if they were children? oh, your ears might be hurt (pat on the head), so we are going to put volume controls on your MP3 player to protect your hearing (another pat on the head).

i'm waiting for the day that some of the countries of the EU get tired of all this meddling and leave. i'd put my money on sweden to go first.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8279348.stm

[Danny]

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..........most mp3 players have this already!?!

[SymphonicX]

aren't mp3 players, particularly recent music which has been mixed for "loudness", ridiculously higher than your average walkman...? I read that they are, they go far beyond what normal CD players usually do - something to do with the way the digital media is sampled, makes certain frequencies more intense - which can damage your hearing...

Don't quote me on that...

But yeah my ipod for instance, goes higher than your average person should require - it's like toasters that burn toast to a point of it being charcoal - why would anyone need those settings? However kids don't care about the implications to their hearing and will make a point to have their music as loud as possible to show off to others...

[Mike70]

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..........most mp3 players have this already!?!

this article makes it sound like a brand new idea.

what do i know, i don't even own a MP3 player and have no plans on buying one. i don't jog or exercise. i don't go out and do work in public places. i don't commute on public transportation. so i can't think of a single use that i would have for one.

[SymphonicX]

to be "cool"??

my work gave me one, which went to my girlfriend...when I did use public transport I amassed about 4 ipods, only two of which were bought for me as presents...and yeah they do go way beyond the volume that any fully functioning human being could appreciate...!

[MinionZombie]

From my experience listening to music in public back in my headier days at university - at first using a CD Walkman, and then a simple MP3 player (I still don't have an iPod - and don't have use for one right now either) ... I have found that the volume can go preposterously loud.

At the time I didn't think a lot about noise leakage, but there must have been a fair bit so that I must have looked a bit like that zoned-out hoody kid on the bus in Shaun of the Dead, lol ... but listening to far better music, naturally.

I do remember after going to see CKY at the student union (great show by the way, Ginsburg went mental at an anti-American heckler by twatting the guy over the head with his mic stand :elol:), that my hearing was quite muffled, so I had my CD walkman turned right the way up so I could hear it at a normal level (to me) - however, it was SCREAMING LOUD - much to the surprise of my lecturer.

As a result, my hearing didn't get back to normal for another 72 hours, unlike the usual 24 after a gig.

I don't like this nanny state, top down look at things though, never have, never will.

But seriously, manufacturers - WHY do you need the volume to go THAT loud?

As such, now that I'm in my old-young-age (lol) I listen to music at a lower level (relatively speaking anyway), and as such I don't get ringing ears anymore really. Sometimes I do, so that was warning enough to turn it down a bit, you know.

[SymphonicX]

You know that ringing you get in your ears after a gig? That's a frequency in your head dying that you'll never hear again...!

[AcesandEights]

All I know is, if I can hear the music clearly from your head phones:

A) You're a fucking idiot.

B) You're a fucking idiot who will have unnecessary hearing difficulties early in life.

C) Most importantly, You're an annoying fucking idiot.

[Exatreides]

I occasionally have to have my head phones up a bit high due to...

1. Firing an M16A2 to many times.

2. Hand Grenades and being medical support at EOD ranges.

[Yojimbo]

This nonsense again! I remember back when Walkman's first came up, and they toyed with the same stupidity then. After learning of thehubub back in the day my mom actually took my walkman and superglued a small piece of plastic on it that would prevent me from turning the damned thing up too high.

While I know that kids don't use much common sense and will turn these things up way too loud for their own good, it does bother me anytime the government steps in to legislate crap like this supposedly for my own good.