iTunes Soundcheck

[mville]

When converting flac to mp3, I use the ReplayGain DSP to write Track Gain, Album Gain and the iTunNorm tag which, as I understand it, is used by iTunes/iPod to implement iTunes Soundcheck.

Previously, I was using MP3Tag to write this tag.

I have noticed that dBpoweramp writes an 'iTunNorm' tag while MP3Tag writes a 'Comment iTunNorm' tag

Please can anyone advise? What is the difference, do I need both, which one does iTunes use? etc.

[mville]

Re: iTunes Soundcheck

Does anyone with an iPod using soundcheck have an advice on the above post?

[chileboy]

Re: iTunes Soundcheck

'iTunNorm' is used with AAC (m4a) files, whereas 'Comment iTunNorm' is for MP3.

I don't know if iTunes (or the iPod) will recognize the former in an MP3 file. I still use MP3TAG (after ripping with dBpoweramp) with a custom Action to copy my RG values to the proper tag, depending on the file type.

[garym]

Re: iTunes Soundcheck

When converting flac to mp3, I use the ReplayGain DSP to write Track Gain, Album Gain and the iTunNorm tag which, as I understand it, is used by iTunes/iPod to implement iTunes Soundcheck.

Previously, I was using MP3Tag to write this tag.

I have noticed that dBpoweramp writes an 'iTunNorm' tag while MP3Tag writes a 'Comment iTunNorm' tag

Please can anyone advise? What is the difference, do I need both, which one does iTunes use? etc.

I can confirm the same thing (one comment iTunNorm and the other just iTunNorm (which is the way I used to have to do it for AAC files using the mp3tag approach). Tried a bit of testing to see if itunes automatically picked up the dbpa iTunNorm without itunes doing its own analysis. Based on a really quick test, it appears that itunes is NOT using the iTunNorm value created by dbpa (instead it does its own soundcheck determination). But if I use the mp3tag method (creating COMMENT iTunNorm tag for mp3, itunes does use it for soundcheck). I'll play with it a bit more. But seems to be a problem. May derive from the fact that even in mp3tag, I had to create "COMMENT iTunNorm" for mp3 files and only "iTunNorm" for AAC(m4a) files in order for itunes to use for soundcheck values.