- Saturday, 28 November 2009
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There's one thing I can promise you about the space program. Your tax dollars will go further. - Wernher Von Braun
Apple turns down the music
FRUIT-THEMED maker of entertainment gear Apple has decided that it will turn down the volume on its Ipod to save the ears of a generation of Coldplay fans.
Apple has applied for a patent which turns down an Ipod which has been played at high levels for too long.
According to the Daily Telegraph, which did not provide the number of the patent, this was the first time that Apple had acknowledged that listening to its sound gear could harm your hearing.
However it is more likely that Apple is responding to pressure from the EU to reduce the volume of its iPods to a more manageable level.
France has ordered Jobs' Mob to reduce the volume levels of the iPod to 100 decibels (dB) which is the equivalent to standing 10ft from a pneumatic drill. Some people like their Coldplay and James Blunt belting out at them at 120 decibels, apparently.
The new patent, which is targeted at Ipods and Iphones automatically calculates how long a person has been listening, and at what volume, before gradually reducing the sound level.
Since Apple is refusing to comment on the patent, it will not say if owners will be able to switch off this automatic volume control.
More here. ยต
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I can see it now: thousands of iPod users thinking that they're going deaf as their music gets quieter and quieter! :)
Apple is going to be telling people at what volume they can listen to music?! Now, this might be a different story if the max volume on the IPOD was just capped at something smaller, but to actually determine how long a user has been listening and turn the volumne down against their will is something else entirely. I hope Apple never builds a car ("you've been driving too fast for too long, your speed will now be reduced to what we deem appropriate levels"). Personal sovereignty be damned.
How unsurprising that the nanny-state of France would require Apple to protect users from themselves. We wouldn't want people to take responsibility for their own livelihoods now would we?

Of course if Apple really cared, they wouldn't package the units with such cheap-quality headphones. Then again, Apple doesn't actually want to provide a premium product, just give that perception.