Still plugging along with my Easy Listening Project. Here are the next two steps:

STEP 3: Clear the play count and star rating for your music and start over.

I’m hesitant to do this, but am ready to pull the trigger as soon as I’m done with Step 2. I think starting fresh with the play count will help me see what music I go for the most.

I’ve also decided to only give songs a 5-star rating, or no rating at all. After vetting my playlists with steps 1 and 2, the songs remaining should either be favorites (5-stars) or generally liked (no stars). I can’t see a reason for anything in between.

STEP 4: Get the beats per minute (BPM) for each song.

Lickhacker spotlighted a free software program just as I was starting Step 2. It’s called the MixMeister BPM Analyzer, and it calculates the beats per minute for your songs. It’s fast and seems to work really well. I put it up against my PodRunner podcasts, which are each mixed at a certain BPM. The MixMeister calculation matched the PodRunner BPMs exactly.

You just drag your music files into the program. The BPM calculations are added to the file’s metadata, and surprisingly, iTunes will update this information for the songs automatically. (Note: It doesn’t work on anything other than .mp3 files though. Heads up.)

So, beats of 130+ are good for workouts. Below that, more mellow. I’m excited to play with this some more.