Got this book a few years ago and devoured it. I was looking on Amazon for tape related books and this came up.

As a maker of mix tapes, I was curious and ordered it. I think actually this may have been the last physical book I have ever ordered. Interesting. Regardless…

This book is awesome on two levels.

1. The compiled stories and song lists that go with each are interesting and I liked dipping into the mind of each mixologist. Each is a little different, but the tapes are all made with the same desire to be a memory, a message, a moment in time. I found that with the mix tapes I made, largely for myself or for Dalton or Jeff, that there was a real art to it. Fast, slow, no repeat artists back to back… you know, there were rules.

Thought I would include this from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixtapes

I have written many times before about the tapes that Dalton and I created with intricate covers and playlists. The stories and tapes in this book are all specific to relationships of the authors. I really liked them, but for me the best part was…

2. The PICTURES!      Oh man, what a walk down memory lane. This book is filled with pictures of cassettes. Many of the kind I used to make my mix tapes and my tapes for Jeff! There are pictures of the cassettes themselves and the covers that were made for the tapes in most cases. I was drooling with nostalgia over these.

Supertape, a Radio Shack brand that Jeff used a lot for our tapes.

Certron, which you could usually find at places like Walgreens and Ben Franklin.

TDK, my go to tape.

and Fuji which became a staple of Dalton’s dubbing and mixes.

There are tons of others too, and it’s cool to look at the ways they decorated some of them and the j-cards they made to go with their creations.

I recommend this book highly to both mix tape makers and cassette lovers. You will not be disappointed, and, you might view your box of relics in the basement with a little more love. Go buy a tape deck at a thrift store for a few bucks and play a few. The sound quality is of little import to these tapes.

It’s the memories and reasons that you made them in the first place that they still contain as much as the music.

Go TAPES !