We definitely gave this some thought. We put it aside to keep the player minimal assuming that people listening would resort to using the volume control built into their computers.
We have the functionality for it there in the source but we just need to implement a UI for it.
Just put it next to the timeline. The lack of a volume control on is a huge annoyance with the existing Soundcloud embeds, and it was the first thing I looked for.
We put it aside to keep the player minimal assuming that people listening would resort to using the volume control built into their computers.
I'm guessing you use a Mac. PCs don't have volume controls on the keyboard. So to change it IO either need to leave my browser environment to change the OS volume, or reach for a physical volume control.
I very much want the volume control associated with the player, for two reasons. First, I never know in advance what sort of volume a given video or audio clip on the internet will have, so I want the ability to adjust for that close to the controls for navigating internally within the clip or selecting other clips. Second, I don't want to change my computer volume at all if I can avoid it, because I'ma sound engineer and I already have the system volume set to a level that I'm comfortable with for recording and editing. Adjusting the computer's default volume will throw it out of what relative to everything else that's plugged into my mixer.
Sure, relatively few computer users are sound engineers - for the typical music consumer, this in't a problem. On the other hand, the majority of people with Soundcloud accounts are.
Laptops definitely all have volume control on the keyboard, and even my current (wireless) desktop keyboard has volume control. Is this still not standard on wired desktop keyboards?
They do... They're just terrible. Unresponsive, and inconsistent. Of course, part of that might be that windows seems to give the volume -control less thread priority than rebuilding search indexes or updating virus definitions.
I'd like to add my own feedback. I believe volume control is an essential feature of a music player, even more so than play and pause. You'll find that many users of web apps riot without one. For example, on some flash game portals, games without volume controls get spammed with 1-star ratings. To many people, volume is more important than any other function.
I remember thinking exactly the same thing when i built the new player for a big Dutch music site. Sure enough the highest voted request on Uservoice after launch was a volume control :)
