I have not yet tried any of the apps mentioned here, so cannot vouch for accessibility with VoiceOver. The article is from the New York Times Tech section.
APP SMART. Match Playlist to Pace When Out for a Run. By KIT EATON. IF you are headed out for a walk or jog, consider adding an app for your trip. Several smartphone apps can add a helpful boost of motivation, or just some fun information, to a workout or leisurely walk. Music can be a great help to runners, but sometimes putting together a playlist can be a chore. So leave the song selection up to RockMyRun. This free iOS and Android app streams music while you run, serving mixes of tracks from its archive, with a fun twist: You can choose how many beats per minute the music should have, and the app will match the songs to the pace. If you are out for a fast run, you may choose a speedy setting of 150 to 160 beats per minute. For a slower jog, try 120 beats per minute, and so on.. You can also choose the music genre, mix the lengths of songs, decide whether explicit lyrics are allowed, and even search for a particular track or artist you like. The app then selects the mix, which can last up to two hours. You can skip a song you don't like, but that requires fishing out the phone to tap the screen. RockMyRun works really well. It sometimes serves up music I haven't heard before, which stops me from getting bored when exercising. But its interface can be a little confusing. For the best experience, it's worth remembering to download mixes over Wi-Fi before leaving home -- streaming music over a mobile data network can quickly eat up your monthly allowance. To get a wider range of mixes, or mixes longer than 45 minutes, you have to register the app and upgrade to a monthly, quarterly or yearly premium package; the yearly package costs $3 a month. For an alternative, the free iOS and Android app PaceDJ does a tempo-matching trick similar to RockMyRun's, but it uses your music archive. This means you hear music you are more inclined to like. PaceDJ works by scanning your archive and logging the beats per minute of each track. You then choose a beats-per-minute rate you like and it starts playing. If you're not sure about your pace, the app can measure walking or jogging speed using your phone's motion sensors. And if you upgrade to the full version for $3, the app can deliver a staged workout that starts at a slower pace, picks up, then slows down again. This beats-per-minute shifting feature is not available on the Android version, however. There is a lot to like about this app, including its clear, good-looking interface and great in-app instructions. It can, however, take a long time to scan a large music archive. I also wish the music controls were bigger, so they would be easier to use Eric _____ From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Robin Christopherson Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2015 6:55 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Offbeat for iOS Dear listers Someone recommended Offbeat which is an app that sorts all your music by beats per minute - ideal for running or, in my case, rowing. I downloaded it but it always instantly crashes. I've deleted and re-downloaded it to no avail. Has anyone successfully got this to run or if not do you know of any other apps that can do this? I know there are plenty of apps and websites that allow you to search for songs by BPM but I invariably don't have any of them and this app looked ideal as it not only sorted your own songs but allowed you to play them as a playlist directly from the app. Thanks, Robin -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. 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