Mixed CDs are a great way to express the gift of love and music with friends, family, and crushes or significant others. They may be seen as lazily cheap as a gift, but they're fantastic gifts if you put time and effort into them. They’re a lost art form, but there is no reason why it should go to waste. Here's why.
Whether it’s tossing songs together you really like for a friend, or telling stories with their songs on their own, or taking the time to put together a mix all with songs that remind you of that particular someone, the possibilities are nearly limitless across a 90-minute timespan depending on which songs you own and the painstaking process of choosing what reaches the final mix. Does this transition work? Do I have too many of one artist? Does this song fit in with the rest? The mood is always important with a mix. And if you gifted your crush with a mix, the songs were always meant to be symbolic of your feelings for the person. The selection and placement of songs is truly a work of art.
Mix CDs are also good for finding new music, but what about the Internet? There are tons of similarly styled free alternatives to finding music in a playlist format, like Pandora or 8tracks, but they don’t quite do it for me. Mix CDs are special because they’re personal gifts from someone, and they wanted you to have it and enjoy it. A link to a playlist just doesn’t do the trick. They’re also a great way to get to know someone else. I’m a firm believer that the music someone listens to frequently is telling of their personality. I know a friend who waits an absurdly long period of time to give someone the “perfect” mix, but when he gives it out, you know that it's how he wanted it. Why wouldn’t someone want that?
Mixed CDs are a snapshot of a period of time in your life. Who knows how everything will change? In the blink of an eye, seasons will have changed and another will have arrived and the world and our personal lives will be wholeheartedly different from what they are now. Life really does move quickly and no one knows what lies ahead. Try as we might, you don’t know and I don’t know. We’re all at the mercy of time. While not getting caught up in nostalgia, it’s nice to have something else to call back upon a memory. Music is the backdrop of our daily lives, and our lives are made up of little moments. Mix CDs are a way to simultaneously look into the past while also looking into the future.
Music is a powerful medium. Bring 'em back; they’re important.
