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.

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