The Simple Joy... and tragic Demise... of the Mix Tape.

Modern convenient music. We all love it. I mean say you want to hear ... Borderline... you used to have to walk to your CD shelf... run down the cases for your copy of "Madonna" or "The Immaculate Collection" take it ALL the way back to your computer or stereo... put the CD in, skip to the right track... PHEW I am exhausted just THINKING about all that work. Where's my Limewire. Search, Download (if you haven't already downloaded or ripped it already, I mean come on.... it's BORDERLINE.... it should come pre-installed on all new computers. You heard me Bill!) Play. Three steps. Simple enough. But it's not all rainbows and kittens my friends... there is a dark side to our musical A.D.D. ... that dark side.... is the death of the mix tape.

Ah the mix tape... was there any simpler yet blazingly complex way to show your emotions. You wanted to secretly let your friend know you pined for them...Mix Tape. You wanted a personal soundtrack for your tears and binge eating.... Mix Tape. You wanted that extra special night to be JUST that more special... you guessed it... Mix Tape. Sadly though, in this modern age of MP3's, IPods and instant musical gratification, we no longer have the drive to sit for hours with CDs and cassettes spread around us in a fan, studying with furrowed brow, choosing just the right songs in just the right order to properly express your love, pain, devotion, desire to tell someone they suck in that polite upbeat way that only a collection of random songs can. Sure... you can load up your IPod with they songs you love... but is it really the same? Do you really put the heart and soul into your IPod that you did into your secret stash of emotional plastic cases? I don't think so... and while you can strut around with your own music happily blasting in your ear buds.... what about your friends... the people who may not understand what you are thinking... without that little nugget of audio delight delivered to them with love (or hate) in a maxell case?

I say... We need to find a way ... to bring back the mix tape... Playlists don't do it... Saying "Hey I heard 'Crazy For You' and it made me think of you" not the same...

Bring back the mix tape... It may just be what this world is missing.