Apple iPod Touch, the Ultimate Gadget for Excercise?

December 3rd, 2008 • Comments Cycling/Fitness, Review
Tags: Apple, cycling, iPod Touch, Review, technology, training

While many people view exercise as a dull, monotonous task, the truth is, that with the right entertainment, it can be quite fun. For most of my cycling and other work-outs, I listen to a 1st generation 8gb Apple iPod Touch. While riding my bike at the end of an 80 minute session on the rollers, I began thinking how perfect the iPod Touch is as an exercise tool.

Music

Good music can make or break a workout. The iPod is the perfect tool for providing you with great music for long, intense workouts. Current iPods have more than enough memory to hold sufficient music for days of exercise without replaying a song. My 8gb Touch model can hold 1,750 songs, more than I, and most other people, have in their entire music library. In addition, the playlist features in the newest versions on iTunes make designing a workout playlist easier than ever.

• Manual Playlists: Obviously the oldest and simplest form of playlist available in iTunes, they offer you the most control over which music occurs in your playlist. However, they require that you design the playlist ahead of time in iTunes (unless you use the On-The-Go feature).
• Smart Playlists: These are slightly more complex than manual playlists, but have been a part of iTunes for almost as long. Smart playlists allow you to set up a set of conditions that dictate which music will appear in your playlist. Because they can be based on play count, rating, last play date, etc., etc., the playlist is dynamic and changes every time you sync with iTunes.
• Genius Playlists: The newest type of playlist in iTunes, genius playlists are perhaps my favorite of the three choices. They allow you to choose a song in your library and it automatically designs a playlists with songs similar to that playlist. For exercise, I like to choose an intense, fast paced song, and then design a playlist around it.

The music features of the iPod Touch are its main feature, and its most used on mine, and many other devices. In addition, music is one of the biggest reasons why the iPod Touch may be the perfect gadget for exercise.

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