New running app selects music based on your pace

A new app for runners selects music by tempo to match the beat of your foot hitting the pavement, which could make fumbling with your music player to find the perfect song obsolete.

A new app for runners selects music by tempo to match the beat of your foot hitting the pavement, which could make fumbling with your music player to find the perfect song obsolete.

TempoRun lets you sort your music by tempo, rated on a scale of one to 10. Set the app to level one for a walking pace, while joggers can opt for level five. For sprinting, crank it up to 10. During your workout, you can adjust the setting to speed up or slow down the tempo with the click of an arrow on the app's interface, or lock the screen to hold your pace.

If you're bored with your personal library, you can stream TempoRadio powered by SoundCloud, which provides thousands of tracks pre-categorized by tempo and genre.

TempoRun also tracks your workouts in terms of distance, time, and calories burned. Plus it tallies your workout history on a single page, so you can view your workouts for the past few weeks or month and your personal best time.

The app is available via iTunes for $2.99.

Another similar app called Cruise Control can help runners hit their target pace, heart rate and cadence by synchronizing certain playlist songs to users' footfalls. After scanning the iPhone's music library, the app selects songs with the appropriate beat and tempo before speeding up or slowing down the rhythm in real time, without altering the sound and pitch (i.e. the 'Chipmunk' effect).