No more mixed tapes

I remember when I was in high school, and early in college, there was something about a mixed tape. It was a labor of love. I'd spend hours deciding on the right songs, in the right order, sorting them and timing them out to fill the tape as fully as possible while still getting the feel of the tape just right. Then it got to be so easy with CD burners. You just make a playlist, drag a few songs over. It even tells you if you've gone over. Now, with iPods you don't even have a limit of how many songs ... you just keep dragging them over. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my iPod, but there was something about that mixed tape that iPods and burnt CDs just don't capture.

The other day I saw the link to Cassette From My Ex. This is a website from the people who do Found Magazine. I discovered Found Magazine years ago. It was such a neat online magazine, publishing items people had literally found -- old photos, other people's post cards, love letters, hate mail, random notes. It was always fun to see the photos and try to figure out what the story was behind it. With Cassette From My Ex, people have given them old mixed tapes an ex had made for them, along with the story behind the tape, and you can actually listen to the mix. The saddest part is the comments from people who had never made a mix tape before. But it is funny to see what people put on their mixes.