Ship, I gave up trying mixtapes.  I'm just an album listener.  So on a long drive I'll listen to one album either to completion or until I'm sick of it, then I'll switch. 


Even working out, I tend to pick albums overwhelmingly. 


The only thing I mix for right now is jogging, as I need songs to either be 180 or 90 bpm for cadence training (PT showed me how much better my form is naturally at this count, so I'm sticking with it.)

Mixtapes are something of a lost art. These days people tend to confuse "mixtape" with "playlist" --- ie. a bunch of songs you like compiled in one place, especially now that digital interfaces allow you to drag and drop.

Originally mixtapes involved actual studio mixing and were a big part of DJ culture. Artists would take raw cuts and / or their more experimental tracks and create something akin to a pastiche, only they'd blend it all together into a semi-cohesive whole of sorts using studio techniques and track edits. Sometimes they'd use other sources' material too, such as label partners or like minded artists. It was common for these releases to be underground and distributed locally via small, independent labels. You still see it today in underground hip hop, dub, electronica, dance, etc. Often mixtapes will fill in the gaps between larger proper album releases.

At some point mixtapes became associated with cassette tape culture as a whole. Back in the days when "downloading music" consisted of recording off of the radio in real time, cassettes were there primary way of sharing music. Mixtapes took on a broader connotation and became associated with prepared cassette tapes, but the track selections would all center around a common theme or attempt to convey someone's feelings, so they became associated with teenage romance during the cassette era. I mean think of all the effort someone had to put into one: you'd have to cue everything up manually. A lot of thought would go into them, and the "mixing" part would be the pervasive theme dictated by one's emotions.

Another facet of cassette tape culture was the 'zines. Self-published underground newsletters were quite popular, and they'd often feature interviews with young up and coming bands as well as editorials, and to go along with all of this a sampler tape would be included that had selections from the various bands referenced in the 'zine. This isn't really a mixtape however. Similarly when someone is cuing up a list of tracks for a party, I don't see that as a mixtape but rather a playlist. The difference is in the level of construction involved: at its most authentic, a mixtape involves actual studio mixing. The somewhat looser version---the aural love letter---is based heavily around a single theme or attempts to tell a story via track selection.

Even still, there's a definite art to constructing a good playlist. Choosing the right tracks and the right order of said tracks isn't always easy... you have to consider the context, the mood you want to evoke, and how the songs lead into one another. If you're driving into the sunset for instance, the last thing you want to pop up when you hit the shuffle button is Tiny Tim.

aaaah ..mix tapes .....

so many memories

I'm in the club, too. The CD that's in my car's CD player (and it's been there for a while) is a mix I burned. As usual, I hemmed and hawed over the track order to get the variety just right before laying it down on disc.

Nothing quite compares to setting up a tape just right. My MiniDisc recorder was pretty close to tape in how I had to set it up. CD is just too easy, but I still need to get the tracks ordered right or it bugs me if I don't get the mood to be managed and broken just right.