Workaround to increase Pre Ringer Volume!

[cencom14]

I believe I have found a workaround to increase the ringer volume on the Pre. I discovered that all the built in ringers on the Pre are in the /ringtones folder when looking at the Pre as a USB drive. They are all mp3 files. I used a program called MP3 Gain to analyze the db volume level of each file. The files all pretty much had very low db volume levels around 92db. This explains the low ringtone volumes! I used the program to boost the volume levels of each file to 100db. Viola! All the files are now markedly louder and there is no distortion. The MP3 Gain program can be found here: mp3gain.sourceforge.net/download.php . I hope this helps people hear their Pre better!

[storino03]

Wow thanks!

[jtlapp]

Holy guacamole and 2/3rds! The speaker on this phone really can be loud!!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (loud enough?)

[pieler8]

That's HUUGGEE!! Thanks man!

[JonR88]

Ok....which one do we download? Also, once I download this, how do I go about applying it to my Pre??

[jtlapp]

Originally Posted by JonR88

Ok....which one do we download? Also, once I download this, how do I go about applying it to my Pre??

I had to figure this out myself, doubly hard because I only use the Windows computer four times per year.

(1) Download the topmost version of mp3gain.
(2) Install and run mp3gain.
(3) Attach the Pre to the computer in USB mode.
(4) Copy the ringtones out of the /ringtones folder on the Pre onto a folder on your computer. Keep these as backups.
(5) Make another copy of /ringtones onto your computer. You'll be modifying the versions in this copy.
(6) In mp3gain, "add" all of the files from the directory you will be modifying.
(7) Change "Target Normal Volume" to 100.
(8) Select all of the ringtones shown within mp3gain (such as by clicking on the first and then shift-clicking on the last).
(9) Click "Track Gain." This will modify the ringtone files to the new gain.
(10) Copy the modified ringtone files back into the /ringtones directory on your Pre.
(11) Close any windows you might have open that show the Pre drive (per the above instructions, the mp3gain window shows files on the computer hard drive).
(12) Click on the "safe hardware removal" icon on the lower right (in the icon tray) and select the Pre USB drive (probably always the last drive).
(13) Disconnect the Pre and adjust your ringtone volume on the Pre downward, because it's now going to be too loud.

I think that's what I did, anyway. If you don't have Windows, you're out of luck, and it would be a copyright violation to just post the fixed MP3s.

Edit: cencom14 do you want to confirm this? It worked for me, but I may have missed a step, and Windows is not my native OS.

Edit: Apparently mp3gain is available for the Mac and Linux as well. I normally use a Mac and would have preferred a Mac version, but couldn't find it. See responses below. (Mac version, Windows version, & for Linux do an apt-get or build from source.)

[bevcraw]

Thanks, Cencom.

A perfect example of how powerful this forum can be. Let's work together to find more solutions.

[Gekko]

vloud.com

[lilred731]

Thanks to the both of you, cencom14 and jtlapp. This was a great find.

[dcigary]

Yeah, I found this out the hard way - I transferred over the .WAV files that I recorded as a custom ringtone on my Treo 755p (Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds.... that's so obscure nobody would get it! ) I had to do the same thing on the Treo to make the ring tone loud enough, and I had two files on my hard drive - one the regular recording, and the second the file that I had amped up in Audacity. It was a nice quiet night, and then all of a sudden the LOUD ringtone went off...yikes!

[wynand32]

It would be great to sticky an FAQ/Solutions thread, and add this to the list. Awesome!

[Mikeluv43]

Nice work around worked great. ;-)

[crxssi]

Originally Posted by jtlapp

I think that's what I did, anyway. If you don't have Windows, you're out of luck..

(Regarding increasing ring tone vol)

Nonsense! mp3gain is available for Linux and works just fine. In fact, it was installed by default in Mandriva 2009.1.

Anyway, I found it much easier to just use audacity- that way I made the ringtone "escalate" 2dB every phrase

[jtlapp]

Edit: The following post was made when this thread was merged in with the giant How-To thread.

Great, so now we're mixing discussions of how to do a hundred different things. Really effective.

A thread I gave a five-star rating to was incorporated into this everything thread, and now I'm unable to rate this thread because presumably I've already given it five stars. This thread is so broad it's practically useless, and I would rate it one star if I could.

[cencom14]

Jtlap,

You got it. That was a great step by step guide! Thanks for laying it out so neatly for everyone. I still can't believe Palm put such low volume mp3's on the Pre! Thanks for all the thanks. I am happy I could contribute to this great forum.

To the mods, not sure why you moved my thread to this one? This is a mess. You can't follow what anyone is talking about!

Edit: Thanks for separating the thread and the mention in blog!

[Oo Batman oO]

Originally Posted by jtlapp

Great, so now we're mixing discussions of how to do a hundred different things. Really effective.

A thread I gave a five-star rating to was incorporated into this everything thread, and now I'm unable to rate this thread because presumably I've already given it five stars. This thread is so broad it's practically useless, and I would rate it one star if I could.

Yeha this thread ****ed me off. Very sloppy! If they would of followed my suggestion of temporarily disabling this forum and making temporary sub forums for different topics with out naming anyone "palm pre" ppl would post where they should. Now I'm havving trouble looking for the ringtone volume thread which was a masterpiece. they can try to me or say we are doing the best we can. But if you aren't going to make it better, leave it alone. And do remember, what you think is better isn't always better. Have meetings, polls, etc.

[lemketron]

Originally Posted by crxssi

(Regarding increasing ring tone vol)

Nonsense! mp3gain is available for Linux and works just fine. In fact, it was installed by default in Mandriva 2009.1.

Anyway, I found it much easier to just use audacity- that way I made the ringtone "escalate" 2dB every phrase

On the Mac, it's possible (though painful) to use Garage Band.

I just downloaded "MacMP3Gain" (google for it) and will use that next time.

So it's not just windows, MP3Gain is available for Mac and Linux too!

[berdinkerdickle]

<<Thread Restored>>

Stickied and gave it 5 Stars

[Matt18790]

I would follow directions and get this error message:

6/8/2009 6:18:02 AM Error while analyzing: F:\ringtones\CPEG.m4a is an MPEG Layer II file, not a layer III file

I would try going into options and changing No Check for Layer I or II and get the following message.

6/8/2009 6:17:49 AM Error while analyzing: Not enough samples in F:\ringtones\CPEG.m4a to do analysis

The ring tone I am trying to fix is one that was made from a song I pulled from my computer if it helps any. If anyone could tell me what I am doing wrong or how I could fix it I would greatly appreciate it.

[Centro85]

Worked perfect for me (just used the standard ringtones).

Now I can hear my "Old Phone" when the Pre rings, the SMS ringtone, and "Pre" as my clock