It’s been a long, long time since I’ve made a mix tape. Like…uh, maybe 15 years? And considering making mix tapes used to be one of my all-time favorite activities, that’s kinda sad. (Confession: I still have a giant box of 20-year-old mix tapes—most of them gifts from Cure fanzine penpals—moldering in my basement. I just can’t get rid of them!) I found out about 8tracks from Honey Kennedy, and I think it might be the cure for my mix tape longings. Basically, you can upload 8 tracks (about 30 minutes) of music (or more than that, what do I know!) and make a little mix that you can share online or through your iPhone. Neat-o!
You can find and follow me on 8tracks as doorsixteen, but I’ll post my mixes here, too. My very first mix is Summertime Jams—a whole bunch of stuff that makes me feel happy that today is officially the very first day of summer. I hope you like it!
36 Comments
i am and have been addicted to 8tracks for quite some time now. you can do more than 8 tracks too, but i find it to be a nice round number, more often than not. really excited you’re on there + can’t wait to listen to this!!
Oh, you can? I didn’t realize that! I’ve only had an account for about an hour, so… 😀
Also, I really don’t know why I haven’t been designing covers for mine since the beginning. You are obviously brilliant / smarter than I. :>
And by that you mean “control freak”. 😀
I think it’s such a cool thing to share music this way! So much more personal, especially with the artwork you made to illustrate it. I’m starting to listen now, and it feels strange, as if I was in the street with you when you took the picture -you took it, right?
I love that feeling.
Yes, I took the photo last week! It’s at the intersection of 49th St & 6th Ave…taken at around 7PM or so.
I’m so happy that it makes you feel like that! That’s exactly how mix tapes should work. 🙂
Oh wow, I’m so emotional now with the Cure (one of my long-time favourites) and with the details you give about the place you took the picture from. I need to come and live in the US (that’s a dream I share with my husband so it will eventually happen I guess).
I am now thinking of making my own mix tapes. Thanks for introducing this to us!
Around the Way Girl! Such a great choice – thank you!!! Yay!
It’s one of my most favorite songs ever!!!
I have three mixed cassette tapes – still – that people dear to me (at the *time*) made for me. They are treasures. That I can’t play anywhere anymore.
What typeface did you use here?
That’s Brandon Grotesque.
Listening now and considering early cocktails. Thanks for the inspiration.
Excellent!… off to check it out.
Cheers!
yay! Listening now and great first song to lead off with.
Dear Lauren,
Thank you for asking the question that I wanted to ask re: font choice!
Can’t wait to listen. Gorgeous cover!
fun! love the cure – and hey – rad design!!!!
Awesome! I totally miss mixtapes (and also have a stash that I keep meaning to digitize….). This is complementing my post-work summer cocktail very well 🙂
I never heard of 8tracks before. I’m so glad I know about it now. Thanks! Listening to your mix now. Great selection! Yay, summer is here 🙂
SO COOL!!!!!! 8tracks is just what I need. Thank you for pointing it out, Anna!
i started listening to this last night before bed and I had a dream that I talked to you about your mix! crazy! You did such an awesome job on the cover! Love this.
Haha! That’s funny. What did we talk about?
awesome anna
and you are featured on their home page !
Craziness! I have DJ performance anxiety now, haha.
OMG! Love this! I’ve been working Pandora for a while, but sometimes just want my own mix of fun. This is fantastic!! Thanks for sharing!
around the way girl.
sigh. oh, you.
xx
xoxoxox You’re my around the way girl.
This is so gooooooood!!! I’ve been transplanted to another time. Thanks for sharing.
I listened to the cure track three times in a row and got a message saying I was not allowed to skip anymore tracks for one hour on 8tracks. Ps it’s midsummer where I am?
The limitation on repeating individual tracks is to prevent potential copyright violations:
http://8tracks.com/licensing
Ah, the pre-Internet days of exchanging mix tapes with pen pals. Life was SO HARD back then before the Web. I mean the ’80s — although you may mean the ’90s.
As if I couldn’t love the internet anymore, now we can make mixtapes again? YUSS! Thanks for this one Anna, it’s well cool. I’m playing it in work right now and muso colleagues are well impressed with my hitherto unrevealed cred. Suppose I’d better come clean, darnit. Muso beside me says he’s got an old vinyl compilation at home called ‘We Do ‘Em Our Way’ which has the same Devo and Bowie tracks.
There’s no Devo or Bowie on this mix, Fiona! Maybe it went straight into another mix without you realizing?
whoops! So it did, straight into picturemepurple’s mix, also v cool. It’s still going, I could be here for hours…
Hi.
I’ve always sucked at mixed tapes but I have a box of them made by my best friend. I’m totally sharing this link with her so she can get her mix on!
Thanks 😉