Volume Normalizer

[greedo]

I've created a Zune HD app for normalizing volume (i.e. it makes those songs that are recorded really loud the same volume as the rest of your music collection). If you're sick of certain songs coming on way louder than others this might be of interest to you.

Just fire up a playlist then load the app. You can change songs using the standard on-screen controls by pressing the media button.
The app displays the album art and artist/song details. It also adds a notification if the current song has its volume reduced.

IMPORTANT
Because of the lack of access to song data, I had to create a workaround to tell the Zune which songs are too loud.

Basically you have to change the genre of loud songs to include "_loud" at the end, e.g. "Rock_loud" or "Dance_loud". When played back, songs with "_loud" have their volume reduced by a certain amount to approximate 'normal' sound levels. Hopefully a proper SDK is released later to allow reading all file tags. That will also allow different levels of volume reduction.

This is just a beta. I may add some more features to make it a playlist player app aimed at being used in the car.

Download the 0.3 Beta version:
Public - Windows Live


Other Notes:
I've noticed that the app takes a fraction of a second to lower the volume when a loud song comes on. I will try to fix this.

The app should technically work on the older Zunes, however the screen layout is set to Zune HD resolution and may not look right.

[BlackFox]

Cool idea, but why? It's sorta unnecessary if you ask me.

[greedo]

Because I listen to a lot of playlists and shuffle, and I listen to my music quite loud. Most of my music is from the 1990s and was mastered at a certain level. All new music is mastered to sound loud and has very little dynamics.

If I'm listening to a song from 1993 at a loud volume, then a song recorded this year comes on next it can either hurt my ears or make my car stereo distort due to the incredibly loud volume. I don't like sudden loud sounds.

Lack of volume normalization is for me the biggest flaw with Zune. I don't want to have to constantly adjust the volume because the music industry is destroying how music sounds! The Zune team should simply add the 5 lines of code to the firmware to recognise volume normalizing tags. iPods have this feature and it would be trivial to implement (I have no programming experience and I easily created an app to do it).

[BlackFox]

I don't like sudden loud sounds.

Hehe this made me laugh a little, though I don't know why. I guess it's everyone's preference really. I've never really minded, or noticed for that matter, the difference in volume on my zune.

[husker91]

I actually really like this idea!! and great work btw... Im a 90's kid also and I hate when my sterio speakers almost blow out every time a new song comes on >.< will def give a try... linked on ZHDApps | Home

Edit:Works Great as far as i can tell!!! It would be cool if you could make it so it has finger gestures and a menu for choosing playlists, that would be superb... Found my new car app, lol

[greedo]

Great, I'm glad someone finds it useful!

I do plan on adding some controls, but I'm a complete amateur when it comes to programming...

I might start off by adding some very basic controls over the next couple of days - just tap on the right side of the screen to go to the next song, left to go to the previous song. I'm not 100% sure how much access you get to the music library in XNA, but I'd love to create a basic UI that can be used in the car (or for parties).

@ BlackFox
The volume problem really depends on the music you listen to. I love a lot of bands who have been recording since the 80s and 90s. Their more recent albums sound literally twice as loud as their older stuff. It's really annoying when the tracks are mixed in a playlist.

If you have access to the songs, try listening to an old REM song from the 80s or early 90s at a loud volume, then queue up a track off their last album 'Accelerate' and feel your ears bleed when the newer track starts .

[BlackFox]

I have the Offspring's album from the early 90's and their new album Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, but I can't tell a difference.

[ConnerWoods]

source?