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Apple Lets Parents Set iPod Volume Limits

Posted on: Thursday, 30 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Barbara Grady, BUSINESS WRITER

IT HADN'T occurred to William Gonzales that either he or his 7- year-old daughter could be damaging their hearing by listening to iPods with ear buds.

But when Gonzales heard, over lunch in a downtown Oakland cafe, that Apple Computer Inc. started offering free software to set volume limits on its newer iPods, he was faced with a dilemma.

"Now I have to think about getting her one with volume controls," he said of his daughter. As for himself, "I know how loud it should be."

Apple on Wednesday announced free software downloads that let users set maximum volume limits to the sound emanating from newer iPods. In a statement, Cupertino-based Apple said the software "gives parents the ability to set a maximum volume limit on their child's iPod and lock it with a combination code."

I don't like the idea of the software, and I don't think it will be effective," said college student Eunice Moon, 19, while shopping at the Apple Store in Burlingame. "Students use iPods to release stress, and that's an invasion if their parents can control them."

Moon believes students will figure out a way to "listen to the music the way they want."

Jessica Farr, 17, a high school student from Burlingame, embraces the software. She said the iPod was making her ears ring, and she has been telling her younger brothers to turn their iPods down.

"I think it would be good if the parents could control it," she said.Although Apple did not say it was responding to legal challenges, the release of the software update follows a lawsuit filed against Apple in California by a Louisiana man who claimed the iPod could cause hearing loss to users.

But Apple's volume-limiting software is available only for the newest iPods -- the nanos and fifth-generation iPods available since September and October, respectively. The software is not designed for older generation iPods.

An Apple spokesman did not comment when asked why the software or similar software was not released for older iPods.

He did refer to the Apple Web site (www.apple.com), however, which has a tutorial about "sound and hearing" and advises readers to "listen responsibly" by paying attention to the volume on any music or noise-making device they listen to and "keep track of time" that they're exposed to loud noise. Apple also inserts a warning notice with each iPod shipped cautioning that hearing loss could occur if earphones or headphones are used at high volume.

Nonetheless, the iPod can produce sounds of more than 115 decibels. The lawsuit filed against Apple in San Jose claims that listening to music at 115 decibels for more than 28 seconds a day can damage hearing.

Apple's volume-limiting software update is of little interest, says iPod user Ryan Martinez, a Southern Californian in Oakland for business.

"It doesn't concern me or interest me," Martinez said. "I'm perfectly capable of regulating the volume myself."

Martinez said he wouldn't go to the bother of downloading the new software, even though he uses his iPod regularly.

Apple has sold more than 42 million iPods.

Business Writer Tim Simmers and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Oakland Tribune

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