What'Choo Talkin' 'Bout, Willis?

A few weeks ago, I was asked to review a newly created running-related application for the stupid Apple iPhone. With my interest in the application piqued all the more from the mere mention of the word ‘running,’ I quickly agreed to the request, gave the product developer my contact information and waited for the email containing the pertinent information to arrive in my in-box, which, I noticed, was quickly filling up with an abundance of fan emails raving about Runners Write and its handsome, witty writer, Mr. Petes.

A few days after that, I got the go-ahead and downloaded the Cadence iPhone app as well as the necessary Cadence desktop manager (a free download available, for the short-term at least, only for Macs).

At the heart of the Cadence app is the idea of grouping songs into playlists based on their ‘beats per minute’ or BPM. As I have learned many-a time, continually only listening to techno 80s songs (songs with particularly high BPMs) during a run will result in your wearing yourself out all-too-quickly due to running in sync with the beats of the songs being played. That being the case, Cadence allows users to manually adjust the types of songs being played based on the chosen BPM the user desires to listen to. Knowing that I don’t have much discipline to slow my pace during a longer run, Cadence seemed perfect for me since I could control the types of songs I would listen to at various portions of any run.

Once the Cadence desktop manager is downloaded, it will analyze all your songs contained in the iTunes library and, with the exception of all DRM-protected songs, assign a BPM to each song. While some of the BPMs may be slightly off, in general, I found the calculations to be very accurate and, at the very least, assigned to a correct range of BPMs (Cadence also offers an easy process to manually adjust the assigned BPM value of all songs). Once analyzed, the songs will then be placed into playlists according to specific ranges of BPMs (i.e. 100-120BPM, 30-50BPM, etc..) and all playlists will then automatically be placed in a newly created folder in your iTunes library.

The Cadence iPhone app will then automatically store all your new BPM playlists and, as you begin your next run, you can open the app and adjust the songs your iPhone will play based on the BPM categorization. Thus, a runner is now able to change the pace of the song they are listening to based on the amount of energy they want to expend at that exact moment while running. While many people may not understand Cadence’s usefulness, to a runner, this iPhone app is one of the few available that is most definitely worth checking out.

Although the initial analysis of your library’s songs’ BPMs may be a tad slow (to analyze my 10,000 or so songs, it took just over 45 minutes) and despite having to run with the somewhat clunky iPhone (although, you can upload the BPM playlists onto any stupid Apple iPod and could manually change playlists), the Cadence app is an exceptional piece of running technology that provides runners with a new way to listen to their music. While I have no doubt that, eventually, Cadence or another similar app will have the ability to automatically change songs based on your current speed, Cadence is a great first step to a trend that is sure to catch on in the near future.

As tots, T,H,E K,I,D and I spent our days doing what any little children generally did. We played in the sandboxes, we tried to pull each other’s pants down in public (thereby embarrassing the victim and horrifying anybody unfortunate enough to see either of our tiny pale rumps) and we used to argue over who was better: Jem & The Holograms or their rivals, The Misfits. While it may come as a shock to many of you, in our younger years, T,H,E K,I,D and I hardly showed signs of being the devote runners we are today. In fact, as I remember it, the only running we did came at 4:58pm whenever we found ourselves not in front of a television. Whenever either of both of us heard our watches beep at 4:58pm, we completely stopped whatever it was that we were doing and ran home as fast as we could lest we miss even one second of most favorite show of all time…Different Strokes.

I fondly remember how we would stare wide-eyed at the tv screen as we watched the antics of baby Arnold and brother Willis, listened to the life advice offered by the ever prescient Mr. Drummond and learned about friendship through the developing relationship of baby Arnold and his pal Dudley. What I didn't realize then (couldn't, in fact, realize then), but certainly acknowledge today, was that Different Strokes laid out one very important truisms with regard to running and a truism which I wholeheartedly abide by in my own running theology.

For, you see, dear readers, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum. What might be right for you, may not be right for some. And, with the assistance of the Cadence iPhone app, now each runner can has the newfound ability to run the beat of their preferred drum.