Even though the cassette tape is long gone from music store shelves, there’s still enough nostalgia for the old medium that it may never die. From mixtape websites that let you share a handful of songs, to this utterly fantastic giant wooden cassette coffee table.
According to Wikipedia, at one time mankind used reels of thin flexible tape contained in plastic casings to store and share music. And that’s where the creators of the adorably tiny Mixtape Alpha 8-bit synth drew their design inspiration.
For the more fashionable readers at Gizmodo (someone? Anyone? Bueller?) comes these Marc Jacobs USB hubs, disguised as ye olde mixtapes. MIXTAPES. You remember them, right?
Armed with stacks of blank CDs and the original outlaw Napster, I spent my college years giving and receiving mixes. As a member of the post-mixtape pre-playlist generation, I’d like to say a word in defence of the mix CD.
I’m listening to “Boys Don’t Cry,” released by The Cure in June 1979. Next is “Comfortably Numb.” Before playlists, we hadmixtapes, thanks to the Walkman. What’s on your 1979 mixtape? Remember, you’ve got 45 minutes per side. [Giz '79]
In 1994, I painstakingly crafted the greatest hip-hop mixtape cassette I would ever make, comprised solely of songs on the radio at the time. I was 8.
