I use 3 - 4 different softwares to rip/convert, and 2 computers (Windows and Linux) for MSC transfer. What’s the best way to keep the volume same for all music? Thanks.
Using MP3 files … The answer is MP3Gain.
MP3gain is definitely the answer. One caveat - I find most music tends to rip at around 92dB. The default for MP3gain is 89, which will make the songs that are “normalized” quieter than the ones that aren’t. I set it at 92db, and it matches up to the volume of most ripped music.
MP3Gain is indeed the (free) software ‘du jour’ when it comes to trying to ‘level’ the playing field volume. I’ve found a LOT of recording level differences between CDs that you rip yourself (& within these, there’s a difference between .wma & mp3 formats), and music you D/L from various on-line music sources.
I too, agree that the 89 db default is a little low; I have mine set at 94 db. Most of my music now comes from CDs that I rip myself, and find that when doing a track analysis, more often then not, the levels are pretty much the same or sometimes a little higher than that already, so little or no action is usually necessary. Unfortunately, along with the higher recording levels also comes clipping, and if it’s already recorded like that on the CD, you’ll never get it back.
Another bummer is that I’ve found that ripping in .wma format results in higher recording levels, making these songs much louder when played through my Sansa. And MP3Gain does not work on .wma files, only .mp3’s. 
I think 89db is the default because it pretty much guarantees you won’t get any clipping and thus you won’t get any sound degradation and all the songs will have the same level. As you increase the target level you are more likely to start clipping on some tracks. So you can either let those tracks clip (and accept the decrease in quality) or use the “automatically prevent clipping” feature which will maintain the sound quality, but will prevent the track from reaching the desired target level (which kind of defeats the whole purpose). Consensus seems to be that a 92db with the “automatically prevent clipping” feature enabled is the best compromise. But one of the great things about MP3Gain is that it’s non-destructive, you can try different levels and find the one that’s best for you.
Tapeworm is defintely right about most recent CDs. Over the last decade there was an increasing tendancy by the major labels to over-compress and over-gain the masters to the point that most recent pop/rock CD have little dynamic range and significant clipping. I guess the idea was to make them as loud as possible for radio play, but it really ■■■■■ for people that care about the quality of the recording. It seems like this trend is finally starting to reverse a bit, thankfully.
Ok, Mp3Gain for Mp3 files but there is no proper equivalent to MP3Gain for Vorbis (VorbisGain adds only the replay gain tags) 
@killabug wrote:
Ok, Mp3Gain for Mp3 files but there is no proper equivalent to MP3Gain for Vorbis (VorbisGain adds only the replay gain tags)
It would definitely be cool if ReplayGain support was added for Ogg and FLAC. Seems like a very trivial thing to do, but I’ve never heard of a portable device that supports it.
I think the iPod has a feature, which seems to produce the same normalization gains as replay gain, but no player supports replay gain. Unfortunately its the only way to normalize vorbis files (and all the others).
iTunes has a proprietary feature for iPods, but it doesn’t work very well. mp3gain is the only reliable way. I use 92dB, which is around the level of most MP3s without adjusting the gain. 89 is probably fine, but you’d have to use mp3gain on everything.
@bdb wrote:
iTunes has a proprietary feature for iPods, but it doesn’t work very well. mp3gain is the only reliable way. I use 92dB, which is around the level of most MP3s without adjusting the gain. 89 is probably fine, but you’d have to use mp3gain on everything.
MP3gain is useless for Vorbis and FLAC files
rockbox, the opensource firmware support replaygain for ogg and flac. So do all the players supported by rockbox (my old iriver H140)
It’s sometimes the thing we could reproach to the mp3 playermanufacturer is to design a software just enough good to make the customer buy the product and not to try to do the best software to make the customer happy to use it on his day to day life.
But I understand the constraints of the manufacturer (big amount of money for few return over investment) even if I wonder if it will not be a good investment because all the future mp3 players will benefit of this…
I’ve already ask for ReplayGain in the last firmware annoucement thread because I think it’s a must have feature.
Rockbox does not support the Fuze…yet.
I know that but in buying the fuze I thougth that it will be quick due to the support of other sansa player but the internal architecture of the fuze is different
I was expecting some support of sansa like for the previous players (documentation) but it seems that sansa doesn’t want anmore. Why? I think that a rockbox support can only bring advantages…
