I listen to music on Last.fm on my computer but the volumes of the songs are all over the place when they stream. Sometimes you get a soft track, other times you get a really loud one that makes your ears bleed.
How can I normalize the volume in real-time on a Windows XP computer so this doesn't happen?
This DirectShow filter might help, depending on whether Flash uses DirectSound: http://codecpack.co/download/ReClock_DirectShow_Filter.html
If it doesn't, then I'm not sure what else to suggest, unless your driver software has support for dynamic range compression - it might be worth identifying the sound chip and downloading the requisite suite of software from the vendor, sometimes they will have an option for loudness equalisation in their bundled software.
One thing to note though is in Windows 7 at least, loudness compensation is built into the operating system.
I've seen positive feedback about Breakaway Audio Enhancer, which seems to do exactly what you are asking. Unfortunately it is not freeware though, at $29.95 with a 30-day trial.
I was looking for the same thing, but could never find a software solution. I ended up going the hardware route and bought the Rolls SL33B. It's great for a PC setup since it has both RCA and 1/8" input/output connectors. Here's my blog post on the Rolls SL33B It's $63 on Amazon. Not too expensive, but the dang things works so it was worth it. Hope this helps.
