My friend Angi is awesome. If you don't know her, you should.
A few days ago she
posted to
her blog about running music. Not sure how she came across it, oh wait, yes I do. She's just that cool. She finds the coolest things all the time. I don't know if I just don't have the patience to explore or what, but I am always stealing her ideas.
Anyway, she found a website called
jog.fm which lists songs and their beats per minute (BPM), and then gives you suggestions on what songs/BPM would be best for your pace. They have compiled lists for walking, running, and cycling. How cool is that?
I for one think it's an awesome tool since I am horrible at pacing myself. I'm not sure if this will help me keep a better pace or not, but I'm certainly willing to try. So I checked out the website today. I love their idea. I love the fact that I can type in my pace and it pulls up numerous playlists for me to choose from. The only issue I have is that you have to purchase the lists. I don't know about you but I don't have tons of money to spend on new playlists. Not only that but the list might include songs I don't like. It would take far too long to compare my music library with the songs listed on the website to get the BPM.
So I did some searching of my own and found a website called
beaTunes.com that runs your current music library through its software and determines the BPM and has many other cool features. I decided I would give it a try today and ran my entire music library though it. You can download a 14-day trial version to start and it gives you the basic features. It also shows you what else it is capable of: finding duplicate songs or discrepencies, however, those features are not unlocked in the trial version. After the trial is up or if you HAVE to have all the features to start, you can purchase it for $31.95.
I wasn't super concerned about unlocking ALL the features right now so I opted for the trail only version. I also didn't want it to take all day to complete, so I chose to analyze my playlist right in the middle to start. If I think it helps, I will do the more accurate option for the BPM I need.
This is what my playlist looked like when my library had been fully analyzed :
The BPM in my library range from 70 - 140 and the color codes, according to the website, are used to show you what songs sound more alike the others. For example, reds sound more alike then green.
I'm excited to try this out and I hope it helps! I need to get my butt back into gear and start training for.... well, for something. Haven't decided what races I will be doing this year, but its never too early to start!
