Increase the playback speed of MP3s

MP3 Speed is a simple application that allows you to make copies of MP3s at different speeds.

Many of us listen to spoken word podcasts, and MP3 Speed allows you to cut listening time by speeding up your MP3s. You can speed up MP3s increasing the tempo and the pitch, or more naturally change the tempo but keep the pitch the same.

This free app has a big interface that’s less informative and more complex than it needs to be. There’s a folder tree on the left which is a little unnecessary, and the big icons on the top are ambiguous. Once you have worked out what does what, MP3 Speed it pretty simple. Import the tracks you want to modify, choose your settings and hit the stopwatch button. There is no preview option.

Once MP3 Speed has finished converting your tracks, you can open them in the destination folder and use them immediately. Although it suffers a bit from usability issues, MP3 Speed does its job well. It’s an unusual job, though, and listening to sped up podcasts can get stressful!

MP3 Speed will be useful to anyone who wants to alter the speed of their MP3s, for whatever reason!