QUICKBEN  Please disregard my post. The developers sent me a work-around to this problem. My apologies!  
(Version 3.1.4)

DOUG S.  Odd. I analysed my library once when I had a G4 PowerBook (1.5Ghz, 2GB RAM) and once again when I bought my new MacBook Pro (2.33ghz, 3GB RAM). I have a very large library and on the PB it took just under 24 hours to process every track including audiobooks and such. With the MBP it took just over 3 hours. Now given the more RAM and faster processor I would have imagined 12 hours or so to be a vast improvement. Not 3 hours.

Maybe my experience wasn't typical though.  
(Version 3.1.1)

STORMCHILD  Sadly, I think the only way to deal with DRM-protected tracks in iTunes is simply not to buy any. Now that iTunes offers a decent amount of songs in iTunes Plus format, I just stick to those. If I want to buy something that's not available in iTunes Plus, I go look for it on Beatport, Juno, Amazon or elsewhere.

For me, the problem isn't limited to being unable to adjust the SoundCheck level with iVolume; DRM-protected tracks cannot be played by any other software either, so I can't play them when DJing (with Ableton Live or Serato Scratch). I realize you can burn them to disc and reimport them, but that's a pretty ridiculous strategy if you buy a lot of music.

Boycott DRM.  
(Version 3.1.1)

DOUG S.  Pretty harsh review. Can you at least tell us who that someone "Else" is?  
(Version 3.1.1)

MJHARPER  While I agree with some of what you say—the price for example—I think you go too far. After all, you're essentially complaining that an old (unsupported) version of iVolume no longer works with the latest version of iTunes. And that isn't the case because the developer of iVolume changed something in a cynical attempt to get you to upgrade, but because Apple changed something in iTunes.

If you don't want to pay for the upgrade, fair enough. But don't complain that unsupported software is unsupported.   
(Version 3.1.1)

MJPW  the actual site is http://replaygain.hydrogenaudio.org, not .com. I visited it and it looks as though it hasn't been updated since 2001.

So iVolume just a wrapper for someone else's code. Code that was made available for free specifically so other people could build their own software around it. You could say that Mac OS X is just a fancy wrapper for BSD Linux and refuse to pay for that, too. If you can do it yourself, that's fine, but most people could not, and if you have any size of music library at all, it's probably worth the cost of a couple of MP3 albums to upgrade to a product that has vastly improved from one version to the next.  
(Version 3.1.1)

MJPW  oops, meant BSD Unix. you get my point.  
(Version 3.1.1)

STORMCHILD  Certainly. The "someone else" is the author of ReplayGain, the algorithm that does all the work which iVolume takes credit for. See for yourself:

http://replaygain.hydrogenaudio.org

And as for the second comment, I think you are missing the point of this software altogether if you don't see the problem here. Once you have adjusted thousands of songs (in my case, over 10,000), you have to continue adjusting every new song you add to your library. And you have no choice but to continue upgrading to new versions of iTunes, since they are required to support new iPods and iPhones and -- even if you don't buy new hardware -- iTunes updates are required to keep up with general OS X updates. So, in order to keep the benefit of having adjusted my entire library with this software -- which I have now paid for twice already -- I have to keep paying for essentially the exact same software over and over, and the bloody price DOUBLES every time, with very poor discounts offered to existing users. And is there any way to simply stop using it and remove it's adjustments so that songs will at least be somewhat similar in volume via the original iTunes-generated Sound Check values? No, of course not, because iVolume has written it's values directly into the ID3 tags of every song. It does have a restore feature, but if iVolume 2 doesn't work with iTunes 7.7.1, I am already completely screwed, as there is no way to revert to an older version of iTunes without an enormous amount of work and hassle. So I am left in a position where I either suck it up and pay more for another "upgrade" that produces the exact same results as before -- and is not ANY faster on my machine -- not to mention the fact that the upgrade price is more than I paid for versions 1 & 2 put together. It's an absolute outrage, considering all the advanced math that does the psychoacoustic analysis was not even written by this greedy butthead who merely wrapped a GUI around it. Now I have to come up with my own solution for applying the same algorithm to my songs, and believe me, if I do find the time to do this, I will make sure to give it away for free so I can put this clown out of business and make him get a real job.  
(Version 3.1.1)

STORMCHILD  I'm testing iVolume 2.5.3 on iTunes 7.7.1, and it appears to work fine. I don't know why the developer suggested it would be mandatory to upgrade to iVolume 3 to continue using it with iTunes 7.7.1+ -- maybe I just misinterpreted the comment in the release notes. But, as far as I can tell, iVolume 2 still works.

I appreciate some of the replies to my comments. I'm not trying to be a jerk about this, just frustrated with the situation. Maybe when I can afford a new multicore Intel machine, I will consider trying iVolume 3 again; it would be easier for me to swallow the horrible upgrade pricing if the performance is actually that much better. As it stands, I get nothing whatsoever out of the new version on my PowerBook.

I just don't understand why a developer would want to piss off and alienate their customers with such greedy upgrade pricing. You may make a few extra bucks now, but in the long run it will cost you.  
(Version 3.1.1)

STORMCHILD  And no, Mac OS X is NOT a fancy wrapper for BSD. That's not even a gross oversimplification -- it's just plain wrong. *Darwin* is built upon pieces from several different BSD variants -- and you may download and use Darwin for free. Darwin only forms the basic foundation of Mac OS X, and even then, the kernel -- the core "brain" of the entire OS -- was written by Avie Tevanian, an engineer at Apple. They did not take an existing kernel from another Unix variant, it's their own work.

The full Mac OS X operating system is 90% the work of Apple.

So that's a rather false analogy, and completely irrelevant to this discussion.   
(Version 3.1.1)

MJPW  I think 2.5.3 probably still works in most situations, as there are Leopard-specific fixes in it, but the developer no longer makes that version available on his Web site. Since I hadn't kept up with the updates (I think I had 2.5 on my HD), in order to run iVolume in Leopard I basically had no choice but to upgrade iVolume or downgrade my OS. I was satisfied with the new version and the upgrade cost, but I still think developers should continue to make older versions available on their site so people can update or reinstall the software they've already paid for.  
(Version 3.1.1)

MJHARPER  I've been using iVolume since version 1.0 too, and like you I have about 15,000 songs in my library. I don't think I'm missing the point though (correct me if I am).

As mjpw said, open source is open to people to put a wrapper around (although you're right to point out that OS X isn't really a valid analogy). Also, unless I'm much mistaken, the developer of iVolume had to change the actual algorithm (or at least, which algorithm was used) when the Adjust by X% option stopped working a while ago. So it isn't simply a case of wrapping somebody else's work, since there is also quality control and so on involved. and making sure that your app does what it's supposed to. But all that's beside the point.

There should be a reset adjustment, actually. In iVol3, you can select 'Forget Analyzing Results' from under the Tracks menu, and I'm sure there was something similar in iVol2. And personally, I would probably turn off the iTunes sound adjustments altogether if I couldn't use iVol, since the track-by-track thing blows.

I agree about the money. I paid $9 for 1.0, with an upgrade of $7 for 2.0, and now $20 for 3.0. That's pretty steep. But 3.0 was re-written from the ground up, and is being improved with every release at the moment. Since 3.0 was released, I'd say it's become about twice as fast (on Intel). I imported 15-odd albums earlier, and iVol scanned and corrected the _entire_ iTunes library in about 5 minutes. And plenty of features have been added. I'm not writing a review, but I've been using 3.0 since the day it was released and I'm happy with it. Some of the features—like organising albums according to whether they've been set as gapless, and listing the entire contents of your library when iVol loads—are fantastic.

The interface is indeed a little too flashy, but I'd say it's just part of the Delicious generation, rather than a problem with this app specifically.

What it comes down to, I think, is whether you think that the app is still worth it. I do. I agree that the $20 was a bit much—in my book, previous users should never have to pay more 50% to upgrade—but my music collection has always felt better for iVolume, and still feels better for it. I thought hard about the upgrade fee, and decided that iVolume was still worth the price of a CD to me (about €16) and so I upgraded. iVol1 came out in 2004, iVol2 in 2006, and iVol3 in 2008. In the end, I feel that $20—for probably 2 years of use—for an app I will use as much as this is worth it.

I have given up on apps with ridiculous upgrades strategies before (Photo2Movie and Toast). If you're at the same point with iVol, I know where you're coming from. But complaints about upgrade policies still don't constitute a review of the application itself.  
(Version 3.1.1)