[QUOTE] [b]Lord Fickle wrote:[/b]

On a technical point, can anyone explain WHY CDs can now be mastered louder now than in the past? I know technology has moved on, but what is available today, that wasn't when the original releases were mastered, that simply enables them to be louder?[/QUOTE]

My potentially dubious understanding: CDs as a digital medium can be pushed to higher limits than formats that were stored and played analog. Limitations of the physical medium of vinyl records and of the equipment used in mastering, storing and ultimately playing analog signals meant that the potential for loudness was limited to a lower level than the much higher hard cap for digital processing and storage. While loudness was sought prior to the advent of CDs by artists and record companies who fretted their songs wouldn't 'pop' on compilations or when otherwise contrasted with the music of competitors, it could only be taken so far. The higher digital limits and the increasing ease and likelihood of songs ending up isolated from their albums and contrasted with others on MP3 players and through digital single downloads etc. led the industry to a collective assumption that loudness was effectively compulsory and what consumers wanted anyway.