New Apple Patent Could Take Control Of Your Volume Knob On Your iPod

According to a new patent filed by Apple, the company is considering applying some software to your iPod that will gradually turn down the volume at which you listen to your iPod for you. Sure it's for your safety, but when you pay for a product, you don't want the company's software coming in and saying you've had it on max volume for too long.

I rarely have reason to crank my iPod Touch above about 50% volume provided I am using one of my good sets of headphones, heck, provided I am using headphones at all. I have a few devices that I connect my iPod to via the headphone jack that give me better audio if I crank up the volume on the iPod to 100%, that doesn't mean I am listening to my iPod at 100% of the volume, what about then?

Sure, you can go deaf from listening to your iPod too loud for too long, and Apple has implemented optional measures for those too dumb to turn it down before they go deaf, but implementing mandatory measures such as these just to keep from getting sued is dumb. Especially if Apple is going to continue supplying crappy ear buds with their players that require you to crank up the volume to get any semblance of sound quality.

Now, I have given hints at what this patent more or less says it will do, but to be fair, and give you a chance to form your own opinions, I'll state the facts as I know them. The graphic included in this article is both a comparison chart and a graph of how the software would work. So, 100% of the volume is around 115dB or the equivalent of a Chainsaw or rock concert (which is coincidentally OK to attend for hours on end) but at that volume, it's only safe to listen for 15 minutes. So, after 15 minutes, your iPod will automatically lower the volume to 90%, which is safe for an hour, then it drops again to 80%, which is safe for 2 hours, then again to 70% which is safe for 12 hours, and then to 60% which is safe for 24 hours. And, at any time during that scale, if you stop listening, depending on how long you stop listening for, it will slowly lift the cap, so, if you hit the 70% cap, and then you go to sleep, by the time you wake up, it'd probably be back up to 100% or something like that.

Apple to turn down the volume on iPod [via the Telegraph]