levels balanced
on the heels of post-polvo snoozefest 2 comes these two articles on the love of mixtapes, debating whether the advent of the CD burner has helped or hindered the artistry involved.
salon.com requires you to watch a brief commerical in order to access their site. if you don't want to make that commitment, here's a brief summary of each side:
pro:
Today, when I choose to make a mix, I can easily sort through hundreds, even thousands of songs readily available on my hard drive. No more rewinding cassette tapes endlessly to find a particular song, no more hunting through piles of CDs and albums for that elusive track. And if I need a particular song that I don't happen to have, I just go online, buy it or find it. I don't have to worry about CDs breaking or getting too scratched to play -- the playlist is always there, safe on my computer, ready to be burned again. Best of all, if I want to experiment with a different order of songs, I just drag and drop.
con:
"On the subways you see people with iPods. They have, what, a thousand songs on them. Ten thousand, even. They stare random-glared into oblivion. [R]obots with shitty music taste and too much money to spend on music-listening hardware and shoes, in that order," is how Sal Tuzzeo Jr., a music writer, describes the phenomenon. Fewer people who are connected to the music they listen to translates into a less critical and picky audience for the crapola that the record companies and radio stations promote. The quality of music overall goes downhill.
while t.s.o.a. is not one to sneer at technology, there is something to be said for the linearity of a tape with its gentle magnetic hiss. the heartbreak of fast-forwarding really adds to the need to make sure that songs flow well and that you keep the crap to yourself. of course that implies being less adventurous in your choices and a lot more time spent per mix, so perhaps it's a wash.