Before I began ripping my CD collection losslessly, it was all mp3. This is what my iTunes library consists of. A big problem, identified by others, is that recent editions of iTunes won't save volume adjustments for individual songs (under Get Info, with the slider). So a few years back I wasn't happy with the volume of my tracks, and I tried a few different things. I set the volume for the whole library to +100% (by selecting all the songs). I also downloaded mp3gain, and possibly something else which I forget. I think those settings got applied to the songs I had. It didn't seem to make much difference so I stuck to adjusting the volume slider to 100%. Then at some point in the past year I opted to leave the volume as it was, since all I probably needed was a decent pair of speakers, and it didn't really make a difference to playback on my iPod. Those maxed volume settings cannot now be changed. I complained to Apple, they tried lots of different things, but ultimately they didn't have a solution. I did realise it was something to do with tagging though, since converting the tags to v1.0 etc removed the volume setting and allowed me to change it again.
Thanks to the DBPA ID-editor, I can see that these older files have tags from both MP3GAIN and REPLAYGAIN. Removing these allows me to reset the Volume Adjust back to 0. Many also have the Comment iTunNORM (and related) tags. I sometimes find that I need to remove this tag in order to reset the Volume Adjust. The question is, do I need it? Does it matter if I remove iTunNORM? I don't want to do anything that will make the program work abnormally...
My aim is to replace the whole library with lossless versions ripped in DBPA's CD Ripper, using the recommended ReplayGain setting. Therefore they will have the correct iTunes Normalization already. To retain Playlist settings, Play Counts, etc, I've always replaced the file in the Library by putting the newer one in the same location. If I delete an old iTunes mp3, add the new lossless version ripped with DBPA into the same folder, and then play it, iTunes can't find the file, so it asks you to look for it, and I simply choose the new version put into the same folder. Anyhow, once the track is replaced, the volume slider is able to be reset once again. (Now I just hope iTunes will reintroduce the box to uncheck for Volume Adjust, so you can be sure it's completely 0!)
Thanks to the DBPA ID-editor, I can see that these older files have tags from both MP3GAIN and REPLAYGAIN. Removing these allows me to reset the Volume Adjust back to 0. Many also have the Comment iTunNORM (and related) tags. I sometimes find that I need to remove this tag in order to reset the Volume Adjust. The question is, do I need it? Does it matter if I remove iTunNORM? I don't want to do anything that will make the program work abnormally...
My aim is to replace the whole library with lossless versions ripped in DBPA's CD Ripper, using the recommended ReplayGain setting. Therefore they will have the correct iTunes Normalization already. To retain Playlist settings, Play Counts, etc, I've always replaced the file in the Library by putting the newer one in the same location. If I delete an old iTunes mp3, add the new lossless version ripped with DBPA into the same folder, and then play it, iTunes can't find the file, so it asks you to look for it, and I simply choose the new version put into the same folder. Anyhow, once the track is replaced, the volume slider is able to be reset once again. (Now I just hope iTunes will reintroduce the box to uncheck for Volume Adjust, so you can be sure it's completely 0!)
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