Further to my previous,I'm not picking on LW for the quality problem;
the weak vocals and heavy bass occur on at least 75% of my mp3 collection.
The majority are through LW, but there are several other sources I have used and the
problem(?) seems to be everywhere.
This is not a problem with my "homemade" mp3s; from my CDs.

Is it possible that the files are "doctored" by the source(?)...
(ie. by someone who prefers weak vocals/heavy bass)
and the "doctored" mp3s are what I'm downloading?

The iTunes equalizer could (perhaps) correct the sound to my tastes
but I don't have the patience to go through the excercise for more than 250 files.

So what is the (possible/actual) cause?...
bit rate?
nature of the mp3 processing?
"doctoring" of the sound file by the source?
bad player (iTunes 2)?
lazy computer owner?
any ideas, And, has anyone else noticed this? Thanks