The playlist from the mixed "tape" Joel created for me.Joel can be very romantic.  Before he left for India last month he hid a mixed CD and told me where to find it after he left.  I hadn't gotten a mixed "tape", I mean mixed CD in years.  They used to be a standard part of life, but with development of playlists and iTunes everyone creates their own, so in my life no one was creating mixed "tapes" I was creating them for myself. 

So, that being said it made me think a time when technology was less significant and we actually made mixed tapes.  When I was in high school, my friend, Carrie, and I created a mixed tape we called Overload as gifts for our friends when we graduated from high school.  It included songs that we loved, songs that made us think of each other and songs that made us smile.  At the moment I can't lay my hands on a copy of the cassette (then I would also have to dig out a cassette player) and I can't remember all of the songs that were on the tape.   The personalization of a mixed tape is why I love them.  They can evoke emotions and memories.  It used to be a labor of love, you had to track down the songs, decide what order to put the songs on the tape not to mention the process of actually creating the tape.  Now with iTunes its as easy as doing a search, downloading a song and creating a playlist which the click of a mouse it can be burned to a CD or shared on iTunes as an iMix--is this the mixed tape of 2010?  Biomech of Biomech Bits has suggestions on how to share a playlist including the songs (unlike iMix where people have to purchase the songs themselves).  There are probably some copyright issues with this method of sharing, but option for those of you who want to take the risk.

Joel did a wonderful job on his mixed "tape" for me while he was gone.  It was a nice mix of songs I knew and songs that were new to me.  I loved having the mix to listen to when I was missing him, sometimes it made me smile and sometimes it made me miss him more.  It ALWAYS reminded me why I love him and will be happy to have him home on Saturday!