LOL. People don't listen to MP3 players at their default volume. They crank it as loud as they want or need (public transportation can be rather noisy). What would be far more useful is a visual display of decibel level so listeners can make informed listening decisions.
Rockbox FTW! (Actually, of course, it only shows the output in dB FS; you'd still need a way to calibrate SPL from drive voltage every time you change cans.)
Anyway, I hate seeing evil-bit solutions like this, but at least they're not going all FCC and mandating non-standard plugs to keep you from attaching high-gain earphones.
weet: if you're listening to open headphones on public transit, ur doin it rong, and probably damaging your hearing (as you say, transit tends to be quite loud - an ambient noise level of, oh, usually 50-60dB, so if you have your music above an apparent volume of 20-30dB - which is very quiet - you're exceeding safe values for long-term listening and hurting your ears). If you want to listen to music on public transit you really REALLY ought to buy in-ear monitors or decently-insulating closed headphones. Or stupid active noise-cancellation headphones, if you want to spend entirely more money than necessary.
Having said that, I agree with the technical objections to this proposal; it would appear to be entirely unworkable with anything other than the phones supplied with the unit. It'd be interesting to know what the EU expects to happen when you plug in more or less sensitive third-party phones.
While its tablet world topping pixel density, Tegra 2 silicon, and fresh to death OS certainly sound awesome, we had to get our grubby mitts on one to see if it's as good as its spec sheet would have us believe.
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LOL. People don't listen to MP3 players at their default volume. They crank it as loud as they want or need (public transportation can be rather noisy). What would be far more useful is a visual display of decibel level so listeners can make informed listening decisions.
Rockbox FTW! (Actually, of course, it only shows the output in dB FS; you'd still need a way to calibrate SPL from drive voltage every time you change cans.)
Anyway, I hate seeing evil-bit solutions like this, but at least they're not going all FCC and mandating non-standard plugs to keep you from attaching high-gain earphones.
weet: if you're listening to open headphones on public transit, ur doin it rong, and probably damaging your hearing (as you say, transit tends to be quite loud - an ambient noise level of, oh, usually 50-60dB, so if you have your music above an apparent volume of 20-30dB - which is very quiet - you're exceeding safe values for long-term listening and hurting your ears). If you want to listen to music on public transit you really REALLY ought to buy in-ear monitors or decently-insulating closed headphones. Or stupid active noise-cancellation headphones, if you want to spend entirely more money than necessary.
Having said that, I agree with the technical objections to this proposal; it would appear to be entirely unworkable with anything other than the phones supplied with the unit. It'd be interesting to know what the EU expects to happen when you plug in more or less sensitive third-party phones.
I hate the iPod volume meters for this very reason.