ldt043: Slow Death of the Mixtape
#043 - [ Slow Death of The Mix Tape] [ xod ]
Maybe the mixtape has just about seen its day.
The once legendary tape you made for girlfriend/boyfriend/friends is slowly being replaced.
No more bad quality recordings.
No more bad mixing between songs.
No more big gaps between songs.
No more unfinished songs at the end of the tape, sometimes to be continued on the B-side, but often left incomplete.
No more DIY cover art put together from little drawings and pieces of magazines.
No more spending hours sifting through tapes, cd's and vinyl to find the perfect songs.
No more mixtape.
It's been replaced, with technology. Not that I have a problem with that, I mean, a CD is great, it's convenient, its better quality, but in a sense, it isn't as personal. Give it time and everyone will be making a 'mix-cd' for their girlfriend/boyfriend/friends and the mixtape will be practically obsolete.
What effort does it take to make a mix-cd?
- Find the mp3s you want to cut from your huge mp3 collection (takes all of 5 minutes)
- Rip onto CD.
- Make quick cover art using Photoshop/PaintShopPro/Gimp/MS Paint.
- Give to girlfriend/boyfriend/friends.
As you can tell, a lot of effort is involved there.. hrm. yea right. It doesn't seem as personal to me. I mean, the songs are the same, but no legendary mixtape, no feeling that the person who gave you the tape has gone to a great effort to play you the songs. Or, no feelings of hope that the person who you make the tape for is going to appreciate the effort, and the songs.
The other thing about mix-cd's that seems to make them so unpersonal to me is that they can easily be duplicated. Same songs, same order, same cover art. No individuality. Personally, if i'm being made a mixtape I don't want the exact same shit they sent to another friend, a little bit of effort in making it unique wouldn't go a miss.
Like I said, I have nothing against mix-cd's, I just hope that when they (or another form of digital media) overtake the mixtape, it doesn't do so at the expense of uniqueness.
I don't really want a clone. In my eyes, thats not the point of a mixtape.
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Long Dark Tunnel 2001. - http://ldt.aguk.co.uk - ldt@hushmail.com
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