> Honestly I don’t get the idea of ReplayGain, why would
> I want to have different volumes for different songs?
> Am I missing something?
Yes, I think so. Most music has a volume for each song: some songs are quiet, others are loud; older CDs (produced in the 1980s, for example) tend to be quieter than new CDs; different labels and artists mix their music differently. If I have a mix that goes from a song that I’ve ripped from a CD from the ’80s, then it goes to a new song that I downloaded from eMusic.com, the volume of these two songs is likely *already* different. Rather than turning my volume knob to compensate for these volume changes, ReplayGain scans the music for volume differences, and then auto-adjusts Amarok’s volume so that to the listener’s ears, the volume stays about the same. Get it now? Some music purists want to hear these differences (especially on an album, where they may be intentional), but I just want to rock!

Honestly I don’t get the idea of ReplayGain, why would I want to have different volumes for different songs? Am I missing something?

And yes soundKonverter is a must have also, especially if you have an iPod or some mp3 player and want the flexibility at the tip of your fingers

Thanks for passing by… Keep On *nix-ing

Other great addons, IMHO, are:

amarok_ReplayGain: once installed you can right-click on music and apply Replay Gain tags, which auto-levels the volume for each track to make your listening more pleasant. It doesn’t change the music file at all, so you can always turn it off and play at full blast. I recommend turning up its default boost (I use 10dB) otherwise all other apps are louder than Amarok and it can blast you out of your seat!

soundKonverter: Change a music file from one format (wav, oog, mp3, aac) to another. Of course, transcoding will lower the overall quality a bit, just like a photocopy does to a printer page.