January 3, 2025 – We have decided to remove the BPM shifting feature in PaceDJ, and would like to explain the reason for this change. This change will take place when we push the next version update for PaceDJ.
When we first developed PaceDJ in 2011, customers obtained music by purchasing songs from iTunes. PaceDJ could BPM shift the tempos of songs that customers purchased from iTunes, kind of like how you can play a record you own at 45RPM or 33RPM.
These days, customers obtain their music from Apple Music, which is a streaming platform. Streamed music is not owned outright by customers. As a result, streamed music can’t be BPM shifted due to licensing restrictions that are outside of our control.
Separately, we utilize an expensive third-party API for BPM shifting. Unfortunately, we no longer can sustain this cost, especially in light of the fact that streamed music can’t be BPM shifted anyway.
PaceDJ will continue to serve playlists on or around the target tempo, based upon the user’s settings. For example, if your target tempo is 155BPM, and you set your playlist range to +/-5BPM, PaceDJ will create a playlist comprised of songs between 150-160BPM. You can dial the BPM range up or down based on your preferences.
We believe users will find this approach will continue to yield highly motivating exercise playlists. Also, tempo differences of a few BPM are almost imperceptible when you are running or walking.
We hope that our customers continue to enjoy using PaceDJ, and apologize for any inconvenience caused by the change.