Improve your fitness with RockMyRun
I enjoy running, but require motivation to get started and keep going. Thankfully there are plenty of apps which can help here. I’m a big fan of Zombies, Run! and the similar BattleSuit Runner, both of which offer episodic stories that unfold in between tracks from your playlist as you run.
Occasionally though I just like to put on some running music, and for that I have a new favorite app -- RockMyRun. This is essentially a large collection of mixes from various DJs, covering a wide range of genres -- 80s, 90s, Rock, House, Pop, Hip-Hop, Dubstep, Christian Rock, Oldies, and so on -- that have been designed specifically for listening to when running (the last 15 minutes are higher energy, to encourage you to keep going). Mixes can be streamed on 3G/4G, or downloaded to your device via Wi-Fi.
You can find new mixes by browsing all of the available choices, or searching by DJ, song, mix name, or artist. You can also filter results by artist, BPM, length, or lyrics (clean or explicit).
I’ve listened to loads of the mixes, and so far they’re all excellent. Each mix is made up of well-known, and not quite so well-known tracks, and you can browse the song listing to see if it’s something you think will appeal. "To The Max", for example, includes songs from Siouxsie and the Banshees, Ultravox, The Cure, Hall & Oates, The Stranglers, Morrissey, Madness, David Bowie, and the Ramones. "Best of 2013" features tracks from Daft Punk, Katy Perry, Calvin Harris, Robin Thicke, and Icona Pop.
If you use the free ad-supported service you’re limited to mixes that are maximum of 45 minutes in length, while Premium subscribers can enjoy ones with a duration of up to two hours. There are other benefits to becoming a premium subscriber -- you don’t see ads, there are less annoying pop-ups, and you can adjust the BPM of mixes. So if you find a mix you love, but it’s slower than the speed you want to run at, you can crank it up a notch.
Upgrading to premium costs $4.99/month, $12.99/quarter or $35.99/year and when your subscription expires you lose access to your longer mixes. You can however, download up to three mixes a month in MP3 format from the website, so you’ll be able to keep listening to some of your favorites, which is a nice touch.
As with any mix, there will be sections when a song or two isn’t to your liking, but RockMyRun lets you skip straight to the next track in any downloaded mix.
The app doesn’t include any tracking/monitoring functions, but you can use it in conjunction with something like Fitbit, RunKeeper, or MapMyRun.