Auto Mute is a portable volume control software that provides access to several interesting features. It can for instance be used to automatically mute sound on logoff, suspend and shutdown so that the next system start is quiet.

A global shortcut is offered to turn sounds back on after the computer system has been started. The default shortcut is Ctrl F10 which can be changed in the program’s options if necessary.

The only other options provided by the volume control software are to run the program during startup and to play a computer beep sound whenever the state of the sound changes from mute to on and vice verse.

Auto Mute is a portable software program for the Windows operating system. The program is compatible with many Microsoft operating systems including Windows 7 and Windows Vista. It can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

To solve this problem, I usually standardize the volume of all my audio files. To do this, I use a little program called MP3Gain. But if you do not want to add to the endless list of software installed on your computer, you can opt for getting the job done with a browser-based application. One such tool is Vloud.

Vloud allows you to upload any mp3 or wav file to the site and change its volume according to your preferences. Using the site is easy. Select the desired volume you want your file to have from the options light, loud, louder, and loudest. Then, upload the original file and wait for the changes to take place. Once the file is ready, you can listen to it online or download it to your hard drive.

The site is not without its limitations. One of them is that the uploaded file can be a maximum of 10MB. This is not a problem if you’re uploading individual songs but won’t work if you want to use a concert recording for example. Another thing I didn’t like was that the volume settings were too vague. A ‘loud’ setting does not really tell me how my file is going to sound after conversion. So I’d have to keep trying different settings till I found one I liked.

Overall though, Vloud is quite useful especially for people who do not want to be burdened with things like bitrates, decibels, and frequencies. Plus, for those who only require to change file volume once in a while, using an application like Vloud makes more sense.

What do you think of Vloud? Is it worthwhile using a web app on your audio files? What other similar tools do you know of? Let me know in the comments.

It comes with seven great looking skins that use alpha blending and fade effects. A total of six hotkeys can be set in the application which comes with three pre-configured ones to lower and raise the volume plus to mute the sound totally.

Each time a hotkey is used the volume control skin will be shown, the changes are made visible and the volume control fades slowly away if there is no further user input.

The program options provide access to some interesting features. A custom change amount for the volume sliders can be chosen by entering a percentage value in the program. That could be interesting if you want to fine tune the volume of the music.

The Fade Delay and Speed can be changed in the options but more interesting than that is probably to select a custom sound mixer.

3RVX looks definitely nice and could be an option for users who like stylish little applications. The Microsoft .net Framework 3.5 is required to run this application.