EU seeks to make ‘cranking it to 11′ on DAPs happen less often

Love that brain-pounding sensation when you jack that volume past the sensible limit? If so, you best hop on the next flight to somewhere not within Europe, as the almighty European Commission is fixing to peg the default volume limit on portable media players at 80 decibels. If you’re stricken with an awful case of déjà vu, you’re not alone. You may recall that a similar French law forced Apple to limit the volume level on its iPod family to 100dB, and at that time, it decided to make the limit apply to all units shipped within Europe. Now, the EU is seeking to bring that ceiling down to 80dB on all portable music players in an effort to protect the precious hearing abilities of its citizens, though we should note that said level would only apply to the default setting, not overall maximums. In other words, you can override the recommended listening level if you please, but don’t bet on that socialized healthcare taking care of you if The Man finds out. Kidding. Maybe.

[Via Telegraph]

Filed under: Portable Audio

EU seeks to make ‘cranking it to 11′ on DAPs happen less often originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This post is tagged: aural, dap, ears, eu, european commission, EuropeanCommission, hearing, ipod, Law, loud, Mp3, noise, PMP, rules, Safety, volume, volume limiter, VolumeLimiter