So What Do The Kids Do Now?

When I was in high school, a mix tape was a sign of high affection. If you were interested enough in someone to go through the labor of making a mix, it was serious. I think it's become kind of a silly cliche now -- Michael Cera's character in Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist is shown as a pathetic, heartbroken loser through the number of mix CDs he makes for his ex-girlfriend.

What I'm wondering is, what do music lovers and lover lovers do now that even CDs are pretty much going the way of the Dodo? Digital music is so convenient, so portable, so generally smacking of awesomeness -- and yet, what's a schlubby sixteen year old with stars in his eyes supposed to do for that delicate flower across the room if he wants to put together a mix of songs to express his true love?

These days you wouldn't give someone a cassette tape any more than you'd send them a telegram. People still have CD players, of course, but they aren't nearly as ubiquitous as mp3 players. So what's a kid to do?

(If you know the answer to this, I'd really like to know.)

Incidentally, the other thing that's suffering in the digital revolution is album design. I've heard old-timers complain about the shift from full-size vinyl records and how the great art and design that went into an album cover would become a lost art with cassette covers and CD covers. Cassette covers were pretty much a lost cause from the start but a lot of artists did cool stuff with CD packaging. But now? If I buy a song online, I get a one-inch by one-inch image of the album cover that floats around on my iPod screen while the song plays. It kind of sucks.



(I don't even really like Jackson Browne but I acknowledge this is an ingenious album cover. The whole thing was silk screened onto an actual canvas water bag and then photographed. The inner sleeve that protected the disc itself had bright blue water printed on it. It was awesome. Something like this isn't coming across on my iPod screen, you know?)