Sorry if this has already been mentioned, I ran a quick search but didn't see reference to it.

A small utility has been released to remove the EU-imposed volume limit on European-sold iPods. This is not the euPod VolumeBoost utility that you need to run each time you copy tracks over to your iPod. The utility modifies something in the iPod and you don't need a utility like euPod VolumeBoost anymore, unless you REALLY want your iPod loud.

I just tried it with my 3rd gen 20GB, with 2.01 firmware. It's about the same volume now as when I used euPod VolumeBoost set to +40. The utility is supposed to support up to 2.2 firmware of 3rd gen and mini. Not sure if it works with 4th gen or not. It's a Windows utility only.

It's called iMod, just Google and you'll find it pretty easily. I've got the file so if anyone has trouble finding it let me know, I could host it on my ftp server.

I sould mention that you're only supposed to use it with EU volume-limited iPods, says the author, not US versions.

Edit: I'd like to give a big thanks to Espen who wrote euPod VolumeBoost, it has always worked well for me.

Thanx for the info
this is probally gonan beimplanted end euphod sooner or later :-)

I do have an US version, but curiosity is evil. This is the link to download it:

Imod

The EU imposes a volume limit on portable players? OMG, that is stupid. I'm not shy about the government regulating, say, fast food or cigarettes but they have no place regulating how loud a portable device can be played. If you have a thirsty set of cans like the HD-600s you need as much volume as you can get from the portable.

There are other programs that do the same thing as this program. What it is doing is actually modifying the firmware on the iPod to eliminate, or at least raise, the volume cap. It's reasonably safe to do, it's just a few bytes that need to be changed.

Note that if you update the iPod firmware or do a Restore on the thing, this change will get nixed, and you'll have to re-apply it.

It's actually a French law, but Apple have decided that they would rather sell all EU countries a volume limited iPod than just France. It may also have to do with France being an EU country and the way the EU laws work. I'm not a legal expert, but this is what I have found.

The annoying part is why Apple doesn't provide a "legitimate" way to turn this off. I have an older Sony portable CD player (bought in the US) that has a volume limiter. But it's merely a switch on the bottom, I can switch it off (naturally it is always off). Why Apple would do something like this but not give us an option to turn it off is beyond me. The most annying fact is that Apple won't even acknowledge that the volume limit exists and has never made any public statement about it or why it's there in the first place.

There are actually some public complaints being made in some EU countries about this issue, because Apple does not note this volume limit on the packaging and consumers know nothing "official" about it. If I had known about this before I bought my iPod, I would have waited a few hours... I actually bought it duty-free at the airport in Paris (ironic?) on my way to the states. I could have just picked one up in the US and not had to worry about it.

It's the first program I've seen that modifies Windows-based 3G iPods... believe me I looked, though not recently. I just stumbled across this a few days ago. There have been ways to do this using a Mac for some time, and ways to fix older 1G and 2G iPods, but as far as I know this is the first "semi-permanent" fix for Windows-based 3G and later iPods. OR I could be wrong...

cbope, thanks for the tip!!

I have used it on my iPod mini and its a breeze to use.

My daugther have an US iPod mini and it has always annoyed me that she could play louder than me.


PS: My setup is Windows XP, Firewire and iTunes. iMod ran without problems even tough iTunes was opened and recognising the iPod.

No prob, glad it worked for you too. You were quite brave to try it with iTunes open, btw. It's good to know it won't interfere. My setup is XP/SP1 connected to my iPod via USB2.0. I have iTunes 4.2 installed.

euPod is alright but if you load your iPod's tunes through iTunes, all the volume tags are reset EVERYTIME.

So it becomes quite troublsome.

iMod doesn't modify the tags like euPod does, it simply disables the volume cap in the firmware. The way the volume cap works is like this:

Let's say a "normal" iPod (non-EU model) has a volume that goes from 0 to 10. On the EU iPods, the upper limit is moved down to let's say 7. So, the volume control maxes out early, before reaching the "normal" max volume. When you use iMod, you restore the upper limit to 10.

You do not need to use it again, unless you update the firmware in the iPod. You can load tracks as much as you want and the volume cap is gone... unless you touch the firmware.

I know I've seen a program to do this, but for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it. It was not this program, but it did the same basic thing.

Ahh, well. Not important, I guess.

Yeah, it worked fine for me. I actually didn't have a problem with the volume limit with my MX400s, and it's still too quiet with the HD600s regardless. But I don't use them very often with the iPod...

You could try to use euPod VolumeBoost, if you haven't already. Even after removing the volume cap you can still use euPod VB. Might be worth a try, but those Senn's have 300 ohms input impedence, gonna be hard to drive with any portable. Have you thought about getting a portable headphone amp? I've been seriously considering getting one to use with my iPod.

Anybody know where to find a simular program for Mac OS X or info about what string(s) to change in the firmware?
I'm a Mac OS X user and would really like to remove the EU volume limit on my iPod mini!

I have the ipod 2.2 and i am experiencing the same volume frustrations.
The imod links confused me, would you explain it in simpler terms for me please.
I would really appreciate it.
Many thanks
Fred

snip

General fix for serious iPod issues:

- Connect it to a computer.
- Hold Play and menu buttons down for 10 seconds or so. This will cause the iPod to hard reboot, hopefully.
- As it reboots (should be showing the Apple logo), hold the Prev and Next buttons down to force it into firewire drive mode. Then the software on the PC should be able to see it and you can restore the firmware using the updater and such.

If you can't get it to reboot, disassembly and disconnection of the battery is about the only remaining alternative to get that to occur.

Thanks Otto, I have only reset once before. Forgot to toggle the hold on then off first!!!

Panic over, I had kittens there :-)

Finally there are an iMod alternative for us Mac OS X users.
Its called goPod and are available for Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux. Download here.

Finally I`m able to use the full potential of my iPod mini.