Test earphones for blinds

[jiriholz]

I have a sugestion for blinds. In menu or system menu in Rockbox there I would sugest an item called test speakers or earphones and under this item should Rockbox play a sound file from the left and the right side. If needed i can send the free file.

[gbl08ma]

I'm not blind, but I recently bought some cheap earphones that don't indicate which of them is the one to be put in the left ear and in the right ear, so to check if I guessed correctly which earbud is the right (or left) one, I put a simple music file to play and then define the balance to 100% (no minus sign), which should put all the sound coming from the right side. If it comes from the right earbud, I've guessed correctly, if not, I just switch the earphones to the opposite ear

This should also work for blind people, as long as they have voicing turned on so they can temporarily define the balance setting.

Oh, and at the end, don't forget to put the balance at 0% or whatever it was before.

[Yotto]

If you can't tell, does it matter? I frequently listen to music with my earbuds reversed, because when they're backwards the sound is not piped directly into my ear, and the occasional REALLY LOUD song doesn't do any damage. Maybe I lack some stereo-sense, but I never notice the difference.

Also, anybody can make a simple audio file where they say "left" in the left channel and "right" in the right channel, and then save it on their Rockbox and make a bookmark to it for easy play.

(As a non-blind person, I don't know how easier it is to find a menu option than a bookmark)

[gbl08ma]

the occasional REALLY LOUD song doesn't do any damage

Unless you have a really large collection of music on your player, why don't you edit the really loud songs to be less loud? Audacity can do this pretty easily with the Amplify (which also de-amplifies) tool.

Maybe I lack some stereo-sense, but I never notice the difference.

I think the guys that developed the earbuds I bought also lacked that stereo sense. That, or in China (at least, mines say "made in China") it's usual to listen to music with the instruments panned to the inverse of the meant side (by the music authors)

(back to topic)

(As a non-blind person, I don't know how easier it is to find a menu option than a bookmark)

I think it's easier to find a menu option as these are voiced using the voice files Rockbox compiles, while bookmarks (and other files) are only voiced if you've created a specific voice file for them. At least, until some TTS engine is ported to Rockbox (it's a task featured in the RB's 2011 GSoC projects list, I think).

[bluebrother]

I have a sugestion for blinds. In menu or system menu in Rockbox there I would sugest an item called test speakers or earphones and under this item should Rockbox play a sound file from the left and the right side. If needed i can send the free file.

While I can see what you want to achive I don't see a point shipping something like that with Rockbox. You can simply put a file on your player, give it a file name so it appears on the top or bottom of the folder and then just play that file. And if you create a talk file for it you also get its "entry" spoken. Adding such a file to Rockbox will only increase the download an install size, and most people are unlikely to use that.

If there's a free file around it might be considerable to link it somewhere so others can find it easily.

[Llorean]

Most of my headphones have bumps on one side to indicate which is left and which is right by feel. Another suggestion might be having a small amount more care in where you get your headphones.

[gbl08ma]

Most of my headphones have bumps on one side to indicate which is left and which is right by feel. Another suggestion might be having a small amount more care in where you get your headphones.

For the price I got them, I don't mind having to go to the Balance menu every time I put the earbuds in...

Anyways, I could easily mark one of the earbuds to be sure which is the left and the right...