Long gone are the days of handcrafting mixtapes for the gym. Apps for your smartphone or iPod touch can find songs that have the right tempo and beats per minute to match your workout. But that assumes you have the right music in your library. Reebok’s new FitList app for Spotify jumps that hurdle by taking advantage of Spotify’s library of millions of songs.
You can choose from preset playlists created by Reebok and their celebrity endorsers such as Jordin Sparks and Eli Manning. Work out like the pros — or at least listen like they do. You’ll learn that Eli Manning goes for mainstream rock and country in his mix, while Sparks prefers more pop and dance music.
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Or you can go your own way. Choose an activity from the list of options (running, walking, dancing, training or yoga), then pick an intensity (low, medium or high) and length. The intensity setting establishes the mood and beats per minute of the tracks.
Add an artist to the filter, and it creates a playlist with offerings by that musician as well as similar artists. Pick Radiohead, and you’ll see other artists like Muse and Oasis. If you don’t like the song list that it generates, click Create again, and it produces a new one.
If a playlist really hits the right notes, you can save it and play it again later. You can also share your playlists and see what other users are listening to.
The app is free. But to get it on your mobile — where you're most likely to use it — you'll need to be a subscriber of the Spotify Premium service, which costs $10 a month.
You can use the Reebok FitList with a free Spotify account, but only on Spotify’s Mac or PC software, plus you'll have to listen to commercials — and that definitely interrupts your workout groove.