Valentine's Day Gift: The USB Mixed Tape

Remember the lost art of the mixed tape?

It required:

Planning.  Which songs?  What order?  How much rewinding and re-recording before the tape gave out?   

Dexterity.  Pressing 'play' and 'record' in tandem, on a double-cassette boom-box the size of a carry-on, took skills.  

Initiative.  Achieving variety involved raiding your friends' and neighbors' collections - not iTunes.

Time + Timing.  Listening to each and every song, appropriately spaced, for it's full duration - no short-cuts, no point and click expediency.  

Yearning + Audacity.  In equal measure.  Every song a loaded message of love and longing.  Every tape a declaration.

And A Pencil.  For coaxing 4 hours' worth of work back into the case, wrinkle-free, while holding your breath.  

It was a labor of love.

This February 14th, you could hand your valentine a playlist on a USB stick.  Or an M3P player.  Or even a disc.  But where's the poetry in that?

Enter Milktape, where old-school style meets new world technology.

The perfect mix.


Sample

Songs for my valentine.  Some because we met on the dance floor.  Some because we understand the 'for better and for worse' bit.  Some because they say it better than I can.  All because he rocks.

1. Burn Your Name - Powderfinger
2. You Make My Dreams - Hall & Oates
3. Best Of My Love - The Emotions
4. Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Stevie Wonder
5. Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
6. Dancing In The Moonlight - Toploader
7. I Put A Spell On You - Nina Simone
8. Call Me - Blondie
9. Mockingbird - Carly Simon & James Taylor
10. You Got The Love - Florence And The Machine
11. Praise You - Fat Boy Slim
12. To Be Real - Cherly Lynn
13. Things Can Only Get Better - D:Ream
14. Accentuate The Positive - Johnny Mercer
15. Viva La Vida - Coldplay
16. Return To Innocence - Enya
17. Price Tag - Jessie J
18. Though Swell - Blossom Dearie
19. That's Life - Frank Sinatra
20. Uptight - Stevie Wonder
21. I Put A Spell On You - Nina Simone
22. Fever - Peggy Lee
23. Maybe I'm Amazed - Paul McCartney
24. Hard Headed Woman - Elvis Presley
25. If You Really Love Me - Stevie Wonder
26. I Want You Back - Michael Jackson & The Jackson Five
27. I Try - Macy Gray
28. Jungle - Emma Louise
29. Tiny Dancer - Elton John
30. Under Pressure - Queen & David Bowie
31. Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
32. Shelter From The Storm - Bob Dylan