Laugh Loud and Often

I was at a friend's place and decided to look through his vast music collection (we were just "hanging out"). I hadn't noticed how unusual the music collection was until now: he must have had all the audio media, including LPs, 8-tracks, cassettes and CDs; data storage crystals (for the general public) are still years away.

[an image of a magnetic audio-cassette tape has been provided for those not familiar with what it looks like due to youth, amnesia or denial; an 8-track tape is a bit bigger, and an LP is much bigger but it's flat and circular.]

I normally wouldn't have paid much attention to this assortment of audio media. However, a wall rack of cassettes and tower of CDs had a commonality that appealed to me: they were all mixed compilations, whether made by my friend or given as gifts is non-consequential. This got me thinking about the last time I made a mixed compilation, why I made it, who it was for, song tracks included, etc.

The last time I made a compilation was in '95, in celebration of successfully installing a new CD burner; however, I did not know then that it would be a wasted effort. The last time I made a mixed compilation with true gusto was in '91, and it was on magnetic audio-cassette tape (dubbing with a no-nonsense double tape deck). Can you already feel and hear the difference?

With the CD burner, practically no effort or time went into making the mixed compilation. Drag-and-drop songs onto a playlist and burn ... that was it. What more, re-arranging tracks and burning multiple CD copies were far too easy. Compare this with making a magnetic audio-cassette tape compilation: queuing up source tapes to the desired song-tracks, dubbing to a new tape, re-arranging tracks and cutting multiple copies could require an evening's night in. There was always a strategy in sequencing the song-tracks; thus, creating a mood was child's play with a compilation mix.

With a mixed audio-cassette tape, it was fairly easy to make sure the listener would listen to the entire tape at least once (the notion of fast-forwarding to the next track using an audiotape player is still a mystery to most). However, a CD compilation is far too flexible and tracks could be randomly skipped about, or not listened to, without a thought. Furthermore to draw attention to the songs themselves rather than the technological ease of making a CD mix, I would give the CD mix in a sleeve (no song-track label, of course) and not in a jewel case. People seem to get excited over and distracted with the "impressive" CD jewel case ... go figure.

And so this is why I have not made a compilation mix CD in many years ... but may make a compilation audio-cassette tape sometime this week. It's less glamourous and takes more time, but, like the artist of old-world painting before the invention of the everyone-is-now-an-artist Polaroid camera, the audio-cassette tape is a reflection of my intentions and the artistic process that went into making it. The satisfaction and magnitude in making a mixed compilation is in the media ... go search your music collections for mixed compilations.

By the way, I have heard much about devices called an iPod and MP3 players ... emailing a playlist is neither romantic nor satisfying. Perhaps friendship is possible as a direct result of exchanging playlists; I'll have to keep an eye out for such developments.