INTERACT FORUM

I have not analyzed any of my songs - I do not want to as I like how they sound now playing straight from my entire library.  The replay gain is turned on.  This is driving me crazy because I will play one song: I'll play it straight from my music library and it sounds loud and much better.  Then I'll play the same song from the genre list where it's located, and it sounds much worse and more quiet.  What's going on??

So, how do I do this to see what happens on my system?

I mean, what do you mean "straight from my music library"?

Which Genre list for the other method?

I'll do the same on some selections here and tell you what I find. I do not analyze and do not have Replay Gain enabled.

Turning Replay Gain on will do nothing if you haven't analyzed all your tracks.

Don't worry - analyzing them isn't the same as normalizing - it won't change the MP3 at all, it merely gives it a "score" which is then used by Replay Gain to shift the entire track up or down in volume to fit in with all your other tracks.

Give it go - you'll be pleased with the results....

Where does the analyze data get written? In the music file or in the database?

The default is to store in file tags (when posible)

But this can be overridden, to not store in the file but only in the library.

I still think analysing is worthwhile, i use the BPM info for making smartlists based on BPM...it works well for stuff below 100 BPM.

Ok, I went to the tree and clicked Audio, I guess that is where you mean by 'complete library'.

I played a song for about 2 minutes. Stopped playback.
I scrolled down the genre list, clicked on the right genre, played the same song.

I have no difference in volume.

I'm just rather anal about my files. I don't like 'extra' tags written to them. And, I don't find replay gain useful for me.

Many ppl dont like extra tags inserted into their files as it messes with checksums files like md5 or sfv.

I tried to draw a line in the midde for information that i would rather not lose in the event of library corruption, things like ratings etc and track info. Stuff that takes lots of time to fill out properly etc.

Replay gain as it is is useful if you like to make playlists of random tracks form a genre. volume normalised etc. Where it might not be appropriate is when you want to listen to an album in its entirety.

In this case there is such a thing as Album gain which will preserve the highs & lows that the artist intended but base the loudness on a common point rather than volume level across all tracks in replay gain. Im not sure if album gain is an option in v11...(think it is not sure)

Question:
To avoid volume difference I use 'Replay Gain' (http://replaygain.hydrogenaudio.org/).
After analyzing the tracks I import them to MC 11. It works with my 'Compilation-CD's' in the car player. And never had any volume problems using my iPod.

Is there an easier way to do this within MC in one step?

No. The tool you use changes the MP3 header so any MP3 player will "know" the correct volume. The MC analyze works only with MC.