Mix Tapes

 Drew and I had an interesting discussion over the weekend about mix tapes and the ease of access to music for his generation vs my generation.

To make a "mix tape" (playlist), it is as simple as opening Apple Music, clicking Create New Playlist, naming it and then searching for the songs that suit the mood of afore-named playlist and clicking the plus sign and there you have it.  All the songs that are your favorites at the moment in one place.  Once you have overplayed a song, you can just remove from playlist.

Making mixtapes was a long, time-consuming process, which required having the original tape of the songs you wanted to add to the mix as well as a blank tape and a boombox with recording capabilities.  (I am pretty sure eventually you could record from a CD to a tape.....but that is a foggy memory.)  To make a perfect mixtape, it was required to ensure you hit the pause button just at the transition between the songs, otherwise you would get the beginnings of the following songs recorded.  By far the best part of the mixtape was naming it and decorating the case with all the song titles.  It was a meaningful gift as well, because you knew the amount of time and energy that went into the creation of that small rectanglar box.  My friend Elizabeth and I had the BEST time making mix tapes in high school.  I still have a box of the best ones.  However, I have no way to play them.  

I supposed I will have to make a playlist in AppleMusic.

As a child, I never would have imagined that I would carry around a small piece of electronics that contained a map, photos, my address book, the ability to track my family, an entire music library, crossword puzzles, and all the other pieces of information that are contained in my phone!  So my question is what is next?  How can there be something more than that?  There are many people in this world who are smarter and dream much bigger than I.  I am sure our parents never imagined that music would be played on a small piece of plastic, or that radio would be digitized or cars would run on electricity.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saint X Cheer

 We attended the Saint X Cheer banquet last night, which marks the official end of the Saint X 2023-24 cheer season.  It was a wild ride, and I learned some of the ins and outs of the cheer world.  I am sure there are still many unknowns, but I have a greater appreciation for the sport of cheer now.  Coach Heidi made an interesting statement last night that cheerleaders are somewhat individual in mastering and achieving their own skills, but they also fill a space that is empty when they are not present.  In some cases, it is not as noticeable; however if one member of a stunt group is absent, then the entire stunt group is at a disadvantage.  There are not really subs for positions in cheer as there are in most other team sports. I was impressed that Heidi had something positive to say about each of the over 30 athletes that made up the team this year.  I also did not know that Saint X cheer had not attended nationals in over 25 years. SO many props t...
Read more

Endings and Beginnings

 As Ali gets closer to the end of this gymnastics season, she is starting to realize how big of an impact gymnastics has had in her life.  She is sad to say good-bye to gymnastics, which is completely understandable.  Being at the gym 3-4 days per week has been her life for the last 6 years.  And she has made some of her closest friends through gymnastics.  She had the best meet she has had in a long time yesterday; if bars was not so hard for her and she had the desire to get the skills she needs on bars, I have no doubt she would be staying with gymnastics for at least one more season.  I one thousand percent comprehend the defeat she would feel to repeat Level 6 for the third year in a row.  BUT I also know that if she put her mind to achieving her handstand and Giant on bars, she could do it.  She just doesn't want it enough. And Drew's soccer team had his their first friendly on Saturday as Mockingbird.  They won 2-1, after scoring 2 goa...
Read more

Happy 2024

 It is hard to believe we are already halfway through the first month of this year. The year definitely started off in a positive way with Michigan securing their first "official" National championship against Washington.  The Rose Bowl game that enabled them a chance to play in the pinnacle game was fantastic.  Michigan was behind for the first time this season, and were able to come back in the 4th quarter and secure the win.  It was the most stressful game, but we were SO happy when they won of course. Ali competed in her first gymnastics meet this year, and scored just over 35, so she has already qualified for state.  She is still struggling on bars a bit, but continues to be confident on floor and vault as well as attempting back handspring on the beam.  She does not love in the same way that she has, but she is still so much fun to watch.  I predict this season will be her last as a gymnast, and she will pursue cheer, which would be a great trans...
Read more