When I first heard about the 3-23-2006 update for iPods that adds a volume limiter setting, my first thought was that the lawyers won again. Personal media devices in general and iPods in particular have been in the news on and off over the last few months with studies about their contribution to hearing loss.
Then I actually started playing with it and it's actually kinda useful for how I use my iPod. I mostly listen to it in the car through the headphone jack into a tape adapter (yeah, I know). I found a balance between the volume setting on the iPod and the volume from the car's stereo that minimizes distortion and when I go back and forth between listening in the car and listening with the headphones that I have to hunt for that "best" volume level in the car.
With the volume limiter, I set the upper limit to the level that I listen to the car....so now I can just max it instead of hunting and pecking for the sweet spot.
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, Technology
That's a cool use for it! I remember back when I had a cool yellow Sony walkman with a cassette player. The whole hearing loss campaign was pretty big then too... Then the Sony discman, and now the "iPod" (kind of like Coke, Xerox, etc... - generic name derived from specific brand).