The Wide World of Walking Equipment

If your a solo walker like I am, you need something to help wile away the hours during your time on the road. You can employ various mind games like counting cars? But they soon grow old. My favorite walking equipment companion is my trusty MP3 player. I load it to the brim with podcasts and music and head for the streets. The hours seem to melt away listing to Dan Carlin rant about the latest political disaster or to Eric Clapton playing Tulsa Time at 134 beats per minute (this, when I need to pick up my walking pace a bit). Unfortunately due to normal wear and tear my players undergo, weathering (no pun intended) the outdoors and the knocking about they receive during my walks, I have to replace them periodically. When my player has finally given up the ghost, what are some of the issues I should consider when looking for a replacement? What features are important in a player that’s used primarily during a workout? Answer: durability, capacity, music formats, user reviews, size/configuration/ease of operation and the trade-offs involved are the things I should consider.

DURABILITY

Since your player is going to receive quite a bit of abuse during it’s lifetime durability is an issue that needs to be of primary concern. There are essentially two types of players: those that employ a hard drive and those that use flash drives. The hard drive used in an MP3 player is similar to the hard drive found in your desktop or portable computer, only much, much smaller. Hard drives have moving parts. With moving parts comes the increased probability of damage, no matter what the products durability claims happen to be. Unlike its’ cousin the hard drive, the flash drive has no moving parts. This primarily translates into fewer things to go wrong plus a flash drive will withstand the moisture, temperature fluctuations and knocking about better than a hard drive version. So, from a durability perspective, look to flash drive models. Also, many manufactures have units designed for and targeted to the exercise market. They incorporate additional features that improve the units durability and longevity. Be sure to take a look at those as well.

CAPACITY

The capacity (how much audio the unit will hold) greatly depends on how you feel about reloading. An MP3 players capacity is measured in terms of mega (MB) or giga (GB) bytes. As a general rule one megabyte is the equivalent of one minute of CD-quality music. Therefore, a typical song will consume about 2.5 to 3 MB of storage on your player. The lowest capacity flash drive is 64MB which is roughly an hour’s worth of music. If you really love the songs you loaded and/or you don’t mind frequently reloading your player with new songs, then this memory size would be sufficient for your needs. Me, I crave a bit of variety and I’ve generally got better things to do that to spend time reloading my player. While hard drive MP3 models have historically held the capacity advantage, flash drives have begun to catch up. The largest capacity flash drive player I was able to find was a whopping 32GB enough for every song I own or even thought of owning. If you primarily listen to podcast while exercising, you’ll be able to push your reloading schedule back significantly. On average 1 GB of podcast audio equates to 16 hours worth of podcasts. I load both music and podcasts and find that 4GB gives me all the variety and convenience I need. If cost is an issue, some flash players come with expansion slots that allow you to increase the amount of storage by adding a memory card. If you already use a memory card in you digital camera or PDA, you may want to look for a player that uses the same type and/or brand and get some double duty our of you purchase.

FORMATS

Music files come in different formats and MP3 players support many of them. There are three major formats. Most players, including IPods, support the “MP3” format – the most common type and source of the MP3 name. “AAC” is an exclusive format used by Apple’s iTunes. “AAC” music files will play only in IPods. The other major format is WMA, which is supported by non- iPod players and used by online music stores such as Napster.com and Rhapsody.com. IPods do not support the WMA format. If you’re buying a non-IPod MP3 player, get one that is compatible with as many music formats as possible – MP3 and WMA being the most important.

SIZE/CONFIGURATION

Size matters with MP3 players. As with most walking equipment the smaller, the lighter the better. If you don’t plan on using an arm band or exercise pouch, it needs to be fitted with a belt clip or able to be fit in a shirt or pants pocket or in your fanny pack. Another question to ask yourself is, can the unit be operated with one hand? Can you change playlists or podcasts easily? For some reason I find that Ipods are a bit awkward on that score. Forget about the video and wireless hook up options. Obviously unnecessary and are just more that can go wrong. You may want to consider a unit that incorporates a radio tuner. A newer Ipod model has a built-in pedometer but would have some questions about how reliable that feature would be.

ADDITIONAL TIPS

Establish the specifications you need before you begin to shop. Search Google and look for models that meet your specifications. Search out user reports and recommendations or check out reviews at C-net or Epinions. After you’ve selected a brand and model go to the manufactures web site and double check the specifications to make sure it fits your needs. Finally, shop around for the best deal.

With the proliferation of MP3 players the selection process can be a daunting one. Give a bit of thought to where your going to be using the unit and for how long. How often do you need/want to change the player’s contents? Answering these questions will enable you to narrow the field considerably and make your selection process that much easier. My MP3 player has become an important addition to my assortment of walking equipment. It keeps me engaged and helps alleviate the boredom that assails me during long walks. So selecting one that lasts and configured properly is well worth the time, money and effort.

Technorati Tags: AAC, C-net, Dan Carlin, Epinions, Eric Clapton, exercise, fitness, Ipod, memory, motivation, MP3 player, music formats, napster, Rhapsody, walking music, WMA

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Received a couple of emails regarding the post on tips and tricks to help keep you motivated. In it I mentioned that an Ipod or MP3 player is an excellent addition to your walking equipment assortment. It helps you pass the time and maintain your walking pace . A couple of readers ask how or where they could find the BPM for their music collection since most of the popular music services (Itunes or Winamp for example) don’t automatically provide this bit of information. The following is the results of some research looking into what third party applications are available to analyze your song list and provide the BPM data. I personally have used only one on this list (beaTunes) so I’m not certain how effective the others may be or what limitations they may have..

How to Find the BPM for Your Music File

The following third party applications actually listens to each individual song on your list and calculates its’ BPM. They then automatically write that info into your desktop music file:

beaTunes — This is the one I’ve used and found that it works reasonably well. beaTunes is specifically designed for the Itunes application. You start the process by downloading the software from the home page and then syncing it with your Itunes music library. Once that is done simply hit the analyze button. It does the rest, calculating the BPM of each song and adding that info to your desktop music file. Unfortunately it’s not free. A license costs $31.95. However they do have a two week trial offer. so you can get your existing music file analyzed at no cost. Since it listens to each song, if you collection is extensive, it can take a while to get everything coded. The software does however have an accuracy/speed adjustment that can hurry things along if needed. Both Mac and PC compatible.

Tangerine –(Mac only) This is another Itunes based application. Haven’t used it but I assume that it works similar to beaTunes. It too isn’t free. A license is $24.95. It has a 15 day trial period but with a nasty limitation. The BPM export feature is not available during the trial. Which means that you’ll have to manually add the BPM information to your file song by song. Not good.

MixMeister – (PC and Mac)Here we have good news and bad news. The good news is that it’s freeware. The bad new is that it doesn’t work with Itunes, just MP3 and WAV formats. Now I suppose that you could convert your Tunes to MP3, run it through MixMeister and then reconvert it to Itunes and perhaps the the BPM info would transfer as well. I’ll leave that to the more adventurous of you. If anyone tries this let us know in the comments section.

How to Put Together a Motivational Song List

A bit more on assembling a motivating music list. The following BPM numbers should be considered as a starting point, assisting you in aggregating a suitable music assortment. Remember, everyone’s walking pace is different. You’ll have to play around with your list’s BPM structure until you figure out what’s right for you. Simply use these numbers as a reference.

Walking Style                                                              BPM

Recreational walking and /or                                       115

warm up/cool down period

Fitness walking                                                          120-130

Power Walking                                                              130+

Establish BPM levels that are a bit of a stretch, but yet you find reasonably comfortable. . Once you’ve found your personal BPM ranges customize your music list to your taste and workout needs. Consider varying the rates to motivate you to walk faster or slower. Incorporate warm up and cool down periods in your walking and music routine. For example, play songs at 115 BPM for the first 5 minutes, ramp it up to 125 for 50 minutes and then back it down to 115 at the end of your walk. You may want to create more than one list to account for variations in time spent walking and workout intensity. Don’t get too comfortable with your music list, create a new one to push yourself to increase speed. Occasionally change some of the songs to maintain variety. It’s up to you to make it work.

Music appeals to us on a subliminal, emotional level and is hard wired into our psyche. It works well as an exercise motivation tool. We enjoy keeping beat with music and that manifests itself by our tendency to walk at a pace that does just that, keeps the beat. An Ipod or MP3 player is a worthwhile walking gear investment that will help keep your pace where you want and need it to be.

If anyone knows of other applications leave a note in the comments section.

Technorati Tags: beats per minute, BPM, Ipod, motivation, music list, walking, walking exercise, walking music

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