…Note: Fuze does not support APEv2 tags used by MP3Gain…
This is true and false…
It’s true that the Fuze won’t support the APEv2 tags used by MP3Gain, but the APEv2 tags are what MP3Gain uses to note the analysis and undo information only. MP3Gain actually modifies the “global gain” on each frame of the MP3 file. As a result, players that don’t support normal Replay Gain, will see obvious Gain improvements with MP3Gain. I have used MP3Gain on all my MP3’s and have noted SIGNIFICANT differences in gain from files that were not modified by MP3Gain and files that were. Every Sansa I have owned noted Gain changes on files modified with MP3Gain.
Replay Gain does NOT modify the “global gain” of each frame, and as a result, a player supporting Replay Gain is required for you to notice gain changes made by Replay Gain.
Since the Sansa Fuze does not support the APEv2 tags used by MP3Gain, turning on or off Replay Gain on the Fuze will have absolutely no affect on playback in the Fuze. However if you use MP3Gain to modify an MP3 file then the gain increase or decrease you applied via MP3Gain will definitely be noticable when played back on the Fuze, even with Replay Gain off.
Many people prefer Replay Gain because all the Gain adjustments are made in the tag. Thus the actual file is not changed. The danger of using MP3Gain is that if for some reason, the APEv2 data is lost of the file, then you lose the ability to undo your gain changes, and now your MP3 is “stuck” at the gain it was at prior to losing the tags. CORRECTION: If the APEv2 tags somehow do lose their “data” you simply need to run MP3Gain again, and it will re-analyze the track and rewrite the data as the current Db level. You can then lower the gain down to a lower value. However, if you don’t know what the original DB level of the track was, then you are simply lowering it back to a new value, not necessarily it’s original value.
With Replay Gain, there is no modification of the global Gain values in the MP3 frames. As a result, if you lose the metadata, you lose nothing. It’s safer. Another advantage is that you can easily switch between album and track gain on the player, thus if you are in shuffle, you can choose track gain, but if you are playing an album, you can choose album gain, just change how you want Replay Gain to use a different gain. This is why some people prefer Replay Gain over MP3Gain, the frames are never touched and you can choose choose gain type on the fly. With Mp3Gain, you are stuck on the type of gain you used when you modified the file using Mp3Gain. Replay Gain is more versatile, and does not modify your files. The downside is your player MUST support Replay Gain to get any benefit at all.
I prefer MP3Gain, as I don’t have to worry whether or not my player will support it or not. I can play my MP3 through any application and my Gain changes will be read. Since I backup all my music regularly, then I don’t feel too worried about losing the metadata, since I can always delete the corrupt file and restore from the backup.
Hope this clarifies things.
Message Edited by p_opus on 04-09-2009 06:51 PM
Message Edited by p_opus on 04-09-2009 07:00 PM
