The Legendary-ness (yes, I made that one up) of the Mix-Tape!

There were certain things we could count on growing up in the 80's and 90's and perhaps one of the greatest was the mix-tape!  From the hours spent sitting with our ear up to the boombox and our finger poised over the record button, to the inevitable break-up mix-tape, they were a huge part of life for the angsty teenager. 
Making just the right mix-tape for any occasion was an art form.  If we were lucky enough to be the proud owner of a boombox with two tape-decks, the world was our oyster.  Armed with a blank tape, a piece of scotch tape, a pencil and the radio, we could make around 60 minutes of super specific entertainment for ourselves.  Going on vacation?  There was a tape for that.  Just get dumped?  There were probably a couple tapes for that.  Your crush noticed you in the hall and now you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?  You know it...there was a tape for that!
I fondly remember sitting in my room on the weekends waiting for the newest hit song to play so I could hit the record button and capture it for all eternity (well, we know better now). The double tape-deck allowed us to get the best songs off of a previously purchased cassette and add them to mix for "riding in the car on a sunny day" or "parents suck."
With advances in technology came advances in the mix-tape.  The format went to CD and gone were the days of collecting songs off the radio.  Now we were ripping, and queuing our hearts out.  Think your friend needs to hear these songs?  You could easily duplicate the mix for them with the touch of a button.  Making a mix was easier in a lot of ways but it also brought to light the topic of piracy.  Napster and other sites would allow a user to get songs for "free", but it was always at the expense of the artist.  I loved the freedom I had to get my favorite songs off the the CD's I would buy and having them all in one place.
Today, we can create playlists and make "stations" but it is not as fun as it was when we could make our own tapes.  Our playlists don't take near the thought to create and we can't really share them with others like we could before we understood the legal ramifications of doing so.  I believe we are being exposed to more types of music than in the past with these new advances but the familiarity of our favorite bands singing our favorites songs for that time I needed a "sleep over" tape are long gone.
Mix on, good people!