Linked by Jordan Spencer Cunningham on Wed 30th Sep 2009 20:43 UTC
"There are no current European standards on volume controls for MP3 players, though under French law personal music players must be limited to an output of 100 decibels (db). The Apple iPod, which can reach 130db, was briefly withdrawn from sale in France in 2002 until Apple updated the software to reduce the maximum volume. All iPods sold in Europe are now limited to an output of 100db. The European Commissionâs new proposals call for the default setting on all personal music players to be 80db. This would apply to MP3 players and mobile phones that are capable of playing music. However, the proposals apply only to the default setting, not to the maximum setting for the device."
Permalink for comment 387176
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:
2006-12-20
Nah, RTFS, this limitation only applies to the default setting, so actually if you want the volume to be higher then just turn it up! The French law does impact other countries though, my mate bought an ipod and the maximum volume seemed to be restricted, I guess this is because they sell the same French version of the player here in the UK. However, there is a simple 1-click app to disable the limitation so it was only a minor annoyance.
The article says that the idea of the law is that the default settings of all players will be completely safe, but that consumers can turn the volume up if they wish. There will be clear warnings given about the dangers of high volume levels to hearing. Maybe it's a bit of a nanny-ish law, but I don't think it's so bad to raise awareness about damage to hearing as long as I can still listen to loud music if I want.