I stumbled upon this piece, and decided it was far more thoughtful than anything I was likely to write this week, so I excerpt it here:

A mix tape is created to convey a number of sentiments such as an introduction to new music or a shared adoration for a particular genre. More often then not a mix is made to convey one thing and one thing only: Love. In all its splendid forms, a mix tape was most often utilized to clue someone in on raging crush or to further emphasize preexisting feelings. The reason that the tape is so heartfelt is because one must take a number of conflicting albums and mold a song from each into a cohesive entity. As the tape formation is under way, the creator is hearing how the music will mesh together to illustrate the concept that they want the recipient to garner from hearing the tape. A mix tape is an audio Valentine for any time of the year. One knows that there was a person not a computer pushing the stop and record button from the beginning to the end while the tape was being made. This fact is actually more important than one would think.

As technology has developed, cassette tapes have become obsolete and were replaced with mix CDs. Neither of the digital forms of music could truly replace the mix tape. Personalized covers can be made for both the tape or the CD but CD covers are usually produced with computer design kits. Some may choose to decorate their tapes with stickers or decals (I prefer heart and star stickers), this is not possible with a CD. A mix CD can be created within a matter of minutes while a mix tape is undeniably an hour project if not two or more. Compact discs will always last longer than tapes and will not wear out as fast but the more innovative technology becomes, the more depersonalized.

I admit to having put together a mix tape with romantic intentions, although it was more a theoretical exercise than anything else, since I am unlikely ever to find anyone for whom to make such a tape. (It’s also not available on CD.) And it takes me hours to do a decent CD, partially because I am seldom satisfied with my initial song selections, but also because I burn at the slowest speed I can manage, in the interest of higher fidelity and stability. (You may not care, but the stereo in my car is a trifle finicky, and this is where I listen to a lot of this stuff.)