USB Mix Tape

1. Melissa
   June 12th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

   My hubby and I both made each other one when we were dating 10 years ago. Occasionally we drag them out and play them. Always a good spark to rekindle the old flame.

2. Johnny Cat
   June 12th, 2008 at 5:09 pm

   This is pretty cool, but making mix tapes was a labor of love for me back in the day. Getting the player to fade a bit before hitting pause/stop, so there wouldn't be a loud CLICK in between songs was my specialty. This is good for nostalgia.

   And the look on her face when she reads the label: SUCK / In Out.

3. Randy
   June 12th, 2008 at 7:09 pm

   thats super cool. but 20 pounds ( or is it lira ) for a 64 mb flashdrive and case?

   i dont think so.

   they have the same thing on thinkgeek for 15 buxorzz

4. seekshelter
   June 13th, 2008 at 12:02 am

   this is pretty cool, but it would be better if it had just a bit more memory. 128mb might be better. 64 seems like you might not get a good mix depending on the quality of your files..

   lately, ive been making mixtapes for friends. i still call them mixtapes, but they're on a cd now. lightscribe burners are awesome for that sort of thing.

5. Jay
   June 13th, 2008 at 6:56 am

   Or just create a zipped folder containing the songs and email the mix using a file transfer site like transferbigfiles.com

6. andrewdoane
   June 13th, 2008 at 8:52 am

   The "I love the 80's" nostalgia has hit the USB market!

7. Sam C
   June 13th, 2008 at 1:04 pm

   It'd be nice if someone created a template that I could just print on cardstock and fold to shape...

8. seekshelter
   June 13th, 2008 at 4:21 pm

   a template exactly for what?? just where the song titles are written?

9. tikay36
   June 13th, 2008 at 5:14 pm

   or you can make an e-mixtape for free at muxtape.com!! check mine out: metaldelisha.muxtape.com )

10. JC
    June 13th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

    A journey to the past.

11. dj
    June 13th, 2008 at 8:42 pm

    I drive a 1995 Hyundai, so I take a trip back in time everyday!! NO CD's for me! I can get tapes at Half Price Books for 50 cents and I get 27 miles to the gallon! LONG LIVE CASSETTES

12. JamesM
    June 14th, 2008 at 6:21 pm

    Cute idea, but really not practical due to the cost. You can easily get 2GB thumbdrives for about $15 now. Most of us have all had a stab at making a mixtape at one time or another, especially before CDRs became inexpensive and people were using that method. So yeah, I learned a few tricks myself to prevent clicks (as mentioned above) but also engaged in some crude overdubs to amusing (and often horrible) results. As technology moved along, my interest in Mixtapes in general didn't diminish, but turned into making DJ Mix albums instead. Whether as a hobby or as a serious technical (and maybe even professional) interest... the mixtape is alive and well, today. I've found quite a few websites popping up where people are putting up their own versions, albiet in flat-file MP3 format. It's a shame that today, even with something as popular as iPods, we still have MP3 players that cannot do gapless playback. I also have had to (to great, painful lengths) limit my mixes to 79:56 (80 minute CDs are effectively limited to 79:59, minus two seconds for the before-first-track pregap)... Just for people who may still have that CD player instead of an MP3 player. (And it's odd how often have CD burners but still haven't gotten an MP3 player yet.)

    Technology's at a fun stage right now. So many inbetweens, but also so many different ways to do the same old idea of putting together our favourite tracks.

    SamC has a great idea with the "template" idea and I think I'll give it a shot. I'll be sure to share it with Neatorama readers if it ends up looking nice. The trick is double sided printing. *groan*

13. JamesM
    June 14th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    Oh, and I don't want to give the impression of spamming, but I've got a page now which demonstrates how I've settled on a consistent format for my DJ mixes. http://ergh.org/ah/

    I really like the template idea, so if I can make it work out, I may try it in the future for presentation and passing out promos of my work.

14. JET
    June 15th, 2008 at 8:42 pm

    64 MB? A real mixtape was C-90, neither more nor less, so that stick is at least 30 or so Mb too small.

15. JamesM
    June 16th, 2008 at 2:08 am

    "64 MB? A real mixtape was C-90, neither more nor less, so that stick is at least 30 or so Mb too small."

    And $10 too expensive based on the $15.99 ThinkGeek price. 64MB for one hour is about right, if you're using 128k bitrate MP3s (yuck!)... 80 minutes at 160k is roughly 95MB. 128MB thumbdrives, minimum, if you're going to be selling it as a mix tape alternative.

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