Thursday, December 13, 2007

Mixed tape v2.0

This is pretty fantastic.

It's just not the same, making mixed CDs instead of mixed tapes; the care and craftmanship involved are so much higher with a tape, so much more personal. You really had to sit with the songs, crouched over a boombox, hitting play and pause, cuing it all up just right. When you finished one—that you'd invariably made for a woman—you felt there was a bit of your own personal body and soul in that tape. And they make great documents, little solid items, the plasticky rattle, the handwritten songlist, the cut-and-pasted tape jackets, the old pictures.

3 comments:

Joe said...

Sadly, during the cassette mixtape era, I was compling songs from the likes of Dream Theater, Europe, Saigon Kick, and Metallica.

"Dear Baby, I love you. I hope this mixtape truly expresses my innermost feelings for you."

Track 1. Master of Puppets
etc....

Anonymous said...

alwyays the romantic ... but isn't it nicer now to be able to share your body and soul with more women, using more songs, at a higer fidelity, and at a quicker pace? not to mention, now there is some very handy green technology, i hear, or at least blue plastic baggage, so your bits of body and slices of soul wil be recycled, going back to the earth, rather than being tossed from a man-made bridge into a dirty river or streams, killing the spotted trout, during a fit of rage, or, worse, indifference.

emily said...

I still have a stereo with a double cassette deck, so if anyone wants to make me a mix tape, they should feel free, as I will be able to listen to it in my bedroom. And then I could dub copies because I'm fancy with that double deck!