Fading Out vs. Stopping Straight
 

A phenomenon that I've noticed for a while but only recently thought to ask the community about is that which happens when ending a song or video. When I'm stopping a song on iTunes, for example, I come out feeling better or more at ease when I slowly fade the song out with the volume slider before I actually stop the song, rather than when I just stop the song outright.

Does this happen to you? And regardless, do you have some theories on it? My theory is that biologically & evolutionarily we're more alert to sudden change (akin to the boiling frog theory) so when met with a gradual change we are less disrupted by it.

I've never noticed the exact scenario you mention, but I prefer when a television show fades out before a commercial rather than the commercial butting in loudly. I don't enjoy feeling jarred into reality. I recall from my childhood - when my father would fall asleep in front of a documentary, he would wake up startled at each commercial break.

I totally fade out songs before switching them, especially if I'm switching midsong on something that's audible to other people. If I'm just listening to my iPod with earbuds, I skip and stop at will.

I don't know about itunes specifically, but most media players offer fade-out/cross-fade functionality, so that you don't have to mess with the volume every time.

Couldn't tell you about the science of it, but fades are as a rule considered to be a gentler way to transition in any given situation.

I prefer to fade it out too ... it takes me further away from curt cobain, meaning I might never shoot myself!!

i kinda like the abrupt ending. i like a definite "its over" as opposed to the long drawn out ending, waiting for it to be over, waiting for the next song to start. along similar lines, i wanna die abruptly, not slowly fade out.

haha good to know i'm not the only one who notices. yes, good call martian -- iTunes does fade but a lot of the time I want to skip a song, and think "I wish this would fade to the next song"

and squeeeb, you took it in a totally different direction...didn't think about the possibly existential meaning of the fade and death. i never really wanted to slowly fade out but for a long time i lived my life like that; i'm changing that as a gift to myself and my happiness.

Look for a 'cross-fade' option. That's the fancy term for 'one song fading into the next.'