Comments on: I've got a bunch of good mixes just waiting to be made.

I've got a bunch of good mixes just waiting to be made.

god hates math — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:42:06 -0800

So it's mid-April already, and I haven't yet heard anything about MefiSwap 2008. So who's in? The MeFiSwap webpage from last year is no longer up, and I got no response when I MeFiMailed Dreama, so I just don't know what's going on. I had a good time sending/receiving mixes last year, and it seems like I'm not the only one. So, I'm willing to administer the whole thing - I'll make the swapsets, and send out the emails. I'd also be interested in having a few theme swapsets, if people are interested - 2-disc mixes, covers-only mixes, mixes with track names that spell out embarrassing 4th-grade style acrostic poems, etc. I'm open to suggestions. If people are interested, we can decide on a timeline in-thread, and get started on making some mixes. Dreama, if you're there, and I'm stepping on your toes or anything, let me know.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:43:26 -0800

I'm in. You can use some wikispace for general organizing if you'd like to.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:58:03 -0800

I'm in.

By: Four-Eyed Girl

Four-Eyed Girl — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:59:20 -0800

Me too.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:00:52 -0800

They should be muxtapes from now on.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:17:29 -0800

Matt, my inner hoarder needs atoms, not bits.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:19:33 -0800

I just prefer tcp/ip over usps

By: Planet F

Planet F — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:31:44 -0800

Sounds really cool (this is the first I've heard of this)

I'm in!

By: nomis

nomis — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:31:50 -0800

They should be muxtapes from now on.

Having never (until now) heard of muxtapes I simply assumed you were adopting a kiwi accent.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:32:20 -0800

USPSIST

By: box

box — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:32:28 -0800

If it's actual physical objects, I'm in.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:33:51 -0800

Oh hells yes. I have some bomb diggity music queued up.
And by bomb diggity, I mean stuff you've probably heard and discarded already as lame.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:35:23 -0800

Dreama always seemed like she was barely keeping afloat, so I'm pretty sure she'd be happy to let someone else paddle for a while. She captained the ship very well, you have a large.. uh.. dinghy.. to fill?

Stupid metaphors.

By: anotherpanacea

anotherpanacea — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:38:10 -0800

In.

The last one, the 2007-only theme, was a bit -too- limiting. So let's not do that again, or worse a first-half-of-2008-only theme.

By: Slack-a-gogo

Slack-a-gogo — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:39:07 -0800

I'll never pass up an opportunity to make a mix disc, so I'm in!!!

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:41:43 -0800

Ooh pick me! Pick me!!

By: god hates math

god hates math — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:47:14 -0800

Alright - any interested parties should send an email to mefiswap[at](my username without the spaces).com. Alternatively, an email to the account listed in my profile with the subject "mefiswap2008" should do nicely. Please include your username, real name, and real address. I'll send all pertinent information to the email address you use, so make sure it's one you check on a regular basis.

I'm thinking three weeks for the signup period, and another three weeks to make mixes. Too long? Too short?

As for specialty/theme groups, I'd agree that narrow themes should be avoided - the only themes I've got my heart set on are a double-disc swap (I sent out 2 discs to everyone last year, just for grins), and a cassette swap (my wife's car, which we take on trips, still doesn't have a CD player. I've got a load of tapes from 1996-1998 as listening material in there now).

I think I'm looking at a similar group size to last year - 5 or 6 people, with some tweaking as needed. Sound good?

Oh, and yeah - physical mixes. I think sites like Muxtape are cool and all, but I'm a total sucker for handmade stuff.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:52:05 -0800

I sent out 2 discs to everyone last year, just for grins

Wait, you were "Please Enjoy" ?!

By: god hates math

god hates math — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:56:10 -0800

Wait, you were "Please Enjoy" ?!

Nah, I was in swapset Gavotte. By "everyone," I meant the other folk in my swapset.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:58:21 -0800

In!!

By: dersins

dersins — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:07:59 -0800

Just as a note, the one time I was involved in this, the MefiSwap site had a page which linked people's usernames with their names and mailing addresses. Obviously, this is necessary for people to actually send each other CD's. What was less necessary, however, was the fact that this page didn't block robots. I found this out by googling myself (admit it-- you do it to).

Some people prefer keep their username from being linked to their actual name, whether for personal or professional reasons. It would be desirable if whoever sets it up this time were to endeavor to keep whatever page that was from being indexed by the google.

By: bonobo

bonobo — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:09:32 -0800

I'm a joiner. Prepare to be underwhelmed.

Nice addendum, dersins. BOTIST.

By: Dave Faris

Dave Faris — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:11:18 -0800

Count me in.

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:15:53 -0800

I'm in.

No cassette swap please. I don't have a working tape deck.

I'm all for themes, though, and I don't mind a challenge.

By: god hates math

god hates math — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:16:43 -0800

Some people prefer keep their username from being linked to their actual name, whether for personal or professional reasons. It would be desirable if whoever sets it up this time were to endeavor to keep whatever page that was from being indexed by the google.

Yeah, I'm actually one of those people, and I'm aware of the 2006 flap with the potential exposure of information. My plan to get around that is to avoid the web, mostly. I'll make the swapsets, and then send the swapset details to only the people in that swapset. As long as everyone's comfortable with email, I don't really see a drawback. I think the whole webpage/password setup is over-engineering it a bit.

I think the word swapset is starting to lose any meaning for me. Swapset. Swapset. Swapset!

By: PercussivePaul

PercussivePaul — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:24:53 -0800

Also in!

By: sciurus

sciurus — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:26:49 -0800

I'm with mathowie. Either that or the mixes get made, with artwork, etc. zipped up and uploaded to MeFi [if mathowie's willing to provide the space] and distributed from there. I'm in for a hard copy swap too, of course. If someone could MeFiMail me once a consensus is reached, I'd appreciate it. I'm not very good at keeping up with old threads.

By: flibbertigibbet

flibbertigibbet — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:40:45 -0800

Oh man, I'd love a digital MefiSwap.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:47:37 -0800

In.

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:51:07 -0800

I'm in. This will be my first. Is artwork expected or will a simple track list do?

By: zeph

zeph — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:57:52 -0800

Hmm, what with last year's page being down, and nothing (that I could find, at least) out on the wiki to explain what this is, I'd say I'm tentatively in - I mean, in reading through this thread and the one from last year I gather that the idea is to make a mix CD and send out copies to (5?) people who will in turn send you CDs - which sounds like a really neat thing to do - but is there anything more I ought to know before I go tossing my hat in? I really like my hat, after all, I'd hate for it to get all chewed up and slobbery just 'coz I didn't know what I was throwing it into ...

By: god hates math

god hates math — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:05:14 -0800

Oh man, I'd love a digital MefiSwap.

*pushes glasses up onto nose*

mmmmmmm, I believe that you'll find the Compact Disc to already be a digital medium. With 44,100 samples per second (each with 16 bits of dynamic range!), the compact disc has excellent fidelity, wrapped in a wonderfully portable package!

/nerd voice

Okay, I'm done. But really, since I'm organizing, I'm going to declare that this swap requires the trading of physical media. If anybody is interested in a separate (dare I say rival?) internerd-only swap, I certainly won't stop them. Indeed, I'll likely participate. I should point out, however, that it has been attempted before.

Also, a note - expressing interest in-thread isn't going to get you signed up. If you're interested, please send me an email as described here.

By: theiconoclast31

theiconoclast31 — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:09:48 -0800

Seconding zeph. I'm interested, but not really sure what I'll be signing up for.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:17:20 -0800

IIRC, this is how these things go.

god hates math gets people's info, sorts them into groups. alerts people who are in their group sends addresses.
You make a CD, of music.
You send it to the people in your group [5? 6 people?].
They send you the CDs they made.
Some people flake out.
Most people don't.
You listen to a lot of great music and some crappy music.
You learn about other people's taste in music.
Everyone's life is enriched except the people who didn't send their mixes who all get poxes (except the ones you found out later had some horrible trauma and you feel bad for ever calling them out over not sending you a homemade CD).

art is nice but not mission-critical
usually someone is international, usually postage runs me like $5-12 total if I'm not buying envelopes
dreama's rule was that CDs had to be music CDs not stuffed full of MP3s and not something that would only play in a computer or that had random data element that sounded like someone murdering a robot

anything else anyone have to add?

By: god hates math

god hates math — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:20:53 -0800

but is there anything more I ought to know before I go tossing my hat in?

No, that pretty much covers it. The goal is to make a mix and send it out to everyone else in the group, thus ensuring that everyone gets a lot of new music.

on preview, Jessamyn beat me to it, with a lot more panache.

By: robinpME

robinpME — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:28:33 -0800

Does the music have to be awesome?

By: pointystick

pointystick — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:38:24 -0800

Will I be mocked mercilessly for my hopelessly cheesy 70s & 80s music?
*flings in hat, sends email*

By: Biblio

Biblio — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:44:01 -0800

This sounds fun. I'd especially like a theme!

By: shelleycat

shelleycat — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:44:05 -0800

Does the music have to be awesome?

No but the music quality has to be decent. Like play on my stereo decent.

I haven't ben participating because of the securtiy issues but something done over email negates those worries really so I'm in (I just don't want my details published on the web where they're open or easily hackable like in the past). Six is probably the absolute max I can manage in a group though, I have to pay international postage for all of them.

By: god hates math

god hates math — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:15:58 -0800

Alright, so I'm going to set some dates:

April 14th - May 5th - Signup period!
May 5th - May 26th - Make your mixes!
May 26th - June 2nd - Send your mixes!

I think that's a fairly reasonable timeline.

Also, a note about the theme swapsets - these are totally optional. If there are >=5 interested in a double-disc swapset, I'll make it. If not, no dice. The same goes for a cassette swapset, or any other theme swapset that may be discussed in this thread.

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:18:05 -0800

This was fun whenever I did it last. Yes.

By: sperose

sperose — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:23:16 -0800

I'm totes in.

By: dirtdirt

dirtdirt — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:29:10 -0800

I've done a bunch of these over at Monkeyfilter, it'll be fun to do one here.
In!

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:37:28 -0800

Sounds fun! In, please.

By: waraw

waraw — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:47:23 -0800

   |

|  V  |

can be read as "I'm in," "I'm down," etc

By: jadepearl

jadepearl — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:05:16 -0800

I'm in.

By: mosessis

mosessis — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:12:27 -0800

/me watches you all in recent activity

By: DonnieSticks

DonnieSticks — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:25:26 -0800

I would do this if it were electronic. Can we have groups that are physical CDs and ones for digital transfer?

By: carsonb

carsonb — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:35:09 -0800

I'm in as I ever have been, though be warned: I make terrible, messy, mainly unlistenable mixes. Case in point.

By: SlyBevel

SlyBevel — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:04:06 -0800

I'm in for a double disc swap, pleaseorz! ktxbi.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:23:50 -0800

Some people flake out.
Most people don't.

Note that a benefit of the swap is that you still get something even if half the people flake out. Unlike the Christmas debacle.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:37:52 -0800

I'm in.

By: ikahime

ikahime — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:44:38 -0800

I've spent the last few weeks tagging my music in Amarok. Can't wait to make my "accordian," "dorkfest," and "throat-singing" compilations. Count me in as well.

By: BrodieShadeTree

BrodieShadeTree — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:06:58 -0800

Count me in. woo.

By: blithely

blithely — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:53:20 -0800

Oh, this sounds fun. Count me in, as well!

By: kosher_jenny

kosher_jenny — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:55:32 -0800

I think I'll give this a try, and expose some people to my horrible mix-making skills. :P Don't worry, I'll make the artwork extra pretty to compensate!

By: myopicman

myopicman — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:58:08 -0800

I'm in, though I really really completely hope that I get more than two this time round. Maybe the North American address will help better this year, maybe not. I remain optimistic.

By: ShawnString

ShawnString — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:13:26 -0800

in and just sent my email

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:27:59 -0800

So in. Will send e-mail now.

By: [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST]

[NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:35:24 -0800

In!

By: ugf

ugf — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:13:30 -0800

I'm in!

By: yodelingisfun

yodelingisfun — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:28:27 -0800

Wasn't dreama keeping track of the people who didn't send out their mixes? Maybe she still has that info....

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:08:11 -0800

BRAND NEW DAY!!

Also, I will reiterate a promise I made in an earlier set. If anyone truly can't particpate because they are stone cold broke, I'll chip in $20 (or equivalent) for postage for them, international users especially.

By: bettafish

bettafish — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:27:37 -0800

Mad love to jessamyn for explaining to the n00bs. I'll be sending my e-mail shortly!

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:13:23 -0800

Let me take this opportunity to apologize to my group from last year. Around the same time I was supposed to send my (almost completed) mix CD, I got laid off from my job and had various personal dramas pop up like whack-a-moles. I've thought about finishing the CD three or four times per day for the past year, but somehow it hasn't happened yet

If I am allowed to participate this year, I will make a blow-your-mind double CD and send it to both last year's group and this year's group.

Feels good to get that out in the open.

By: rmless

rmless — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:51:46 -0800

I am in again this year, despite getting a disappointing 2/5 back last year. Please mail me cds! Especially you international folk who I am going to spend money on!

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:34:35 -0800

I think you're confused. We're not international... it's you that are international. I'm right here.

By: god hates math

god hates math — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:37:22 -0800

Roll Truck Roll, I'm not sure if I've got the power to, but I'll grant you forgiveness for your transgressions, as long as you truly have the resolve for repentance. I'd love to have you as a participant, and I'm sure your former swapset members would love to randomly get some discs in the mail as well.

We've got a pretty good group so - about 50 people have signed up so far. There are however, a good number of people (11 if I count right) who have expressed interest in-thread, but haven't emailed me. It would be good if you would do so, folks. We here at MeFiSwap2008 would love to have you.

By: defenestration

defenestration — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:36:13 -0800

I'm down again.

Swapset Forte totally pulled through last year.

By: yodelingisfun

yodelingisfun — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:18:00 -0800

Was Forte the one I was in? If so, then yes, yes indeed it was fabulous.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:44:06 -0800

Yeah! Go Swapset Forte! The strongest swapset of all!

By: SlyBevel

SlyBevel — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:12:18 -0800

I've already emailed GHM with this, but I thought I'd comment here to see if I can build a little support...

My car CD player speaks MP3, and I strongly prefer a disc full of tracks with lovely, beautiful ID3 data already there.

In short, I'd like to be part of a group where the members will swap a single CD with MP3 tracks on it...as many/few of them as you like.

That way, us digi-music junkies won't have to re-rip tracks we like...which were probably burned from MP3 anyway, making the whole process a lot more lossy than it should be.

Also, plain vanilla MP3 only, please. No WMA, AAC, DRM'd formats, etc.

By: shelleycat

shelleycat — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:13:10 -0800

Heh, whereas I went old school and offered to send cassette tapes as well as CDs. I'd prefer to receive CDs and would like to be part of a 'normal' CD group, but if there are other takers for tapes I can do that too.

By: flibbertigibbet

flibbertigibbet — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:33:10 -0800

Huh. Like the idea, but will be having exams (boo) and then will be out of the country (yay) during most of the time period delineated by god hates math. Don't think I can participate. Crud.

Also, you know what I meant by digital. Cheeky bastard. :P:P:P

By: sascha

sascha — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:16:22 -0800

I'm in, but I'm in with SlyBevel - I'd far prefer a disc of mp3s. This doesn't mean the CD needs to be filled with mp3s, but I wouldn't listen to tracks on anything other than my iPod or PC anyway.

By: god hates math

god hates math — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:58:18 -0800

I'm going to come down against the disc full of mp3s. It's how things have been done in the past, and I think that's been with good reason. For me, the swap is just as much about the art of the mix (I know, I that term is embarrassing) as much as it is the music that comes on those discs. Dropping a bunch of MP3s on a disc and sending it along seems much more like filesharing, and much less like sharing music, at least to me. And I know, that's a pretty slim distinction, but I think it's an important one.

By: SlyBevel

SlyBevel — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:11:37 -0800

the swap is just as much about the art of the mix

You and I share this sentiment.

Please understand that I'm not asking for more music, or an abandonment of artful sensibility.

All I'm lobbying for is a change of format for those who wish it. My music collection weighs in the hundreds of GBs. If I like a track, I'm loathe to 1.) rip it individually 2.) Try to track down the meta data that may not be included in the packaging (and certainly isn't in a CD WAV file) and 3.) further degrade a file that was likely in a compressed digital format already, converted to CD WAV for this project, and then converted back to MP3 for my own purposes.

If you take a step back, you'll see that my request is no different in tone or timbre than the requests of others to trade cassette tapes. I prefer a different format for my own reasons. And by the look of it, I'm not alone.

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:25:10 -0800

Howbout this? As an opt-in, people can put mp3s of their mix CDs on yousendit or on their own webspaces. Along with the CD, let people know how they can get the mp3s if they want. I'd be more than happy to do that, and I'm sure other people would too.

By: god hates math

god hates math — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:05:41 -0800

As an opt-in, people can put mp3s of their mix CDs on yousendit or on their own webspaces.

Well, sure. I mean, I couldn't stop people from doing that anyway. I don't think it needs to be a sanctioned part of the process, though. There's usually a followup thread where people post their favorite mixes, among other things. That would be a good place for posting links to mixes.

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:33:22 -0800

I'm also for "real" CDs instead of a collection of files. I'm for trading real objects. If I had a record lathe my group would get acetate LPs.

But is there a way to include ID3 data on a mix CD? I'd be happy to do so if someone explains it to me slowly.

By: dirtdirt

dirtdirt — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:50:08 -0800

Hydrophonic speaks my mind.

The CD's I like best are the ones that are carefully, linearly constructed. Nice covers are a plus. Thus, these are the kind that I try to make and send. A disc of MP3's, or a download link is convenient but, to my reckoning, not as potentially artful.

My music collection weighs in the hundreds of GBs(...)
I feel your pain. For me, the mix CD is a welcome respite from that. It's a curatorial tool that bypasses, temporarily, the need to try to deal with an amount of data that literally can't be dealt with.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:56:48 -0800

Is there any good way to import a mix CD into something like iTunes so that I don't need to manually type in all the track listings? That was a drag last time, and one huge advantages of also including the MP3s.

By: SlyBevel

SlyBevel — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:14:09 -0800

The CD's I like best are the ones that are carefully, linearly constructed. Nice covers are a plus.

The processes of creating each kind of disc are the same:

1. Pick the works from your collection you wish to feature.
2. Organize them in a meaningful way.
3. Fire up your disc burning utility.
4. Manage cover art however you please.

Where is the difference? Is there magic pixie dust in the classic CD WAV format?

The only difference I can see is the method of ordering the songs. It's easily done in the case of an MP3 disc by deciding the order, and putting a number prefix on the file name of each track.

None of the comments supporting MP3 discs in this thread so far have touted the ability to put more songs on the disc as a feature. No one wants a raw dump of files. We all want meaningful, individually created, purpose-made sharing of music. What do you care if some choose a different format than others?

By: dirtdirt

dirtdirt — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:28:14 -0800

Look, I am just a participant in this. I have no administrative function. But I say make the CD you want to make. If I'm in your group I'll be happy to get your CD, happy to listen to the music, happy to see how the whole thing goes together, and annoyed that it isn't a music CD. Maybe it is the magic pixie dust, I don't know.

My intention is not to be difficult, nor to knock you for what you want and want to make, just to state that for me a music CD is a music CD, and a data CD is a different thing. Could be I'd feel differently if I had a CD player that played MP3 discs, but I don't, so who knows?

At any rate, the notion of sending physical CD's instead of 1's and 0's over the net is already a technique with some ludditealicious aspects, and I like that. That's why they make different flavors of ice cream, though. Different people like different things.

Your data CD's will neither pick my pocket nor break my leg.

By: SlyBevel

SlyBevel — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:29:54 -0800

Well said, sir.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:55:09 -0800

If you call me, I will sing my mix cd over the phone to you and then huck it out the window in your general direction and take a photo of its trajectory which I will photocopy and send to you in the mail. dirtdirt and I are in the same general camp about this scenario.

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:01:59 -0800

jessamyn typed "If you call me, I will sing my mix cd over the phone to you and then huck it out the window in your general direction and take a photo of its trajectory which I will photocopy and send to you in the mail."

Why are mods allowed to promote their personal projects in MetaTalk? THIS IS WHAT PROJECTS IS FOR!

By: shelleycat

shelleycat — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:49:00 -0800

Well in the end if I'm going to send a bunch of stuff away without being paid then I'm going to send it however I like. So I assume the same goes for everyone else in the end.

But this particularly swap is for swapping music CDs, not digital files or cassette tapes or data CDs. So send music CDs and keep in mind that better quality music is much more likely to please. If you want to send something different then that's cool, set up a separate swap and do so.

Personally I want CDs I can play on my stereo. The low tech one I bought in 1989 (got the CD part in 1994) which still sounds ten times better than my shitty laptop speakers. So mp3 only discs sent to me probably won't get played. Also personally I'll be re-ripping to wavs where I can to make my discs because it really does sound better. That's the magic pixie dust, sound quality. I'm not an audiophile in any way but I want my mix to sound the best it can.

By: SlyBevel

SlyBevel — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:30:38 -0800

Easy, shelleycat. What I'm asking for is that the folks who want MP3 discs be put in a group together.

Just like the cassette folks would be in their own group. And the vinyl folks in theirs, presumably.

I'm not looking to force the idea on anyone, I just don't want it shut down so quickly that nobody gets a chance to say they'd like to be in such a group.

By: eponymouse

eponymouse — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:48:52 -0800

But... but... my favourite band sucks!

I mean, I'm in.

By: plant

plant — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:51:42 -0800

As soon as I figure out where I'm going to be living from May onwards, I'm in.

By: shelleycat

shelleycat — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:06:11 -0800

Um hang on. Where's the bit with someone getting upset? Or even caring much at all? Take what I write at face value and don't read into (there are no angry words anywhere up there), I'm really not that deep or interested.

If god hates math doesn't want to set up specific or different swaps then he doesn't have to, and he's said a few times already that he's only interested in swapping music CDs. So this swap is music CDs of whatever kind you want to send. But what he's doing looks pretty easy so there's no reason others can't do the same if they want something more specific.

By: Vavuzi

Vavuzi — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:39:22 -0800

Wow. I'm late, but I'm in. Now... how the hell do you make a mix?

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:14:55 -0800

There are all kinds of ways to make a mix, Vavuzi, and with personal aesthetics being as varied as they are, I say it's best to figure things out by yourself. The only recommendations I'd give is that you listen to the transitions between songs and judge whether it feels right to you or not. You can use most mp3 players to make mixes. I like iTunes the best, but if you're used to winamp or something else, just go with what feels natural. Other than that, the best way to learn is to listen to mixtapes or mixCDs others have made. You can ask your friends but a lot of people are loath to share mixes because they often have personal significance. Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth edited a book about mixtapes called Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture that has a lot of examples and stories about the featured mixtapes (note: no music is included with the book). You should be able to pick up the book at your local library or bookstore.

By: Vavuzi

Vavuzi — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:15:38 -0800

I was kinda kidding.

The music? Hell's yeah, I've got some aural bliss for ya'll, but believe it or not, I've actually made it to 36 without ever burning a CD. Now's my chance!

By: Vavuzi

Vavuzi — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:17:56 -0800

Dang!

There was supposed to be a wink after "I was kinda kidding." Blasted-lack-of-preview-button-pushing!!!

I swear I'm not that rude.

By: god hates math

god hates math — Sat, 03 May 2008 12:23:54 -0800

Alright, for anyone following this thread in Recent Activity, we're getting close to the May 5th deadline. Last call for registrations!

By: SlyBevel

SlyBevel — Sat, 03 May 2008 16:08:21 -0800

for anyone following this thread in Recent Activity...

Hey! That's me!

By: god hates math

god hates math — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:27:27 -0800

Alright, registration is officially over.

I'll be making up the swapsets and sending them out over the next few days. If you emailed me and didn't get any response, or confirmation, let me know.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Wed, 07 May 2008 06:18:00 -0800

OK, I'm done.

(yeah yeah, no-one likes a smartarse... I got that...)

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 07 May 2008 07:22:26 -0800

Yeah yeah whatever, I've already made 1037 individual mixes, each appropriate for every possible different swapset configuration. And I had to walk uphill to make it. Both directions. While carrying a pregnant mule on my back. That kicked my repeatedly in the balls. Ouch, I said, ouch.

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:15:56 -0800

Does anyone have any examples of artwork from past swaps?

By: sciurus

sciurus — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:55:20 -0800

I haven't gotten an email yet.

By: gemmy

gemmy — Sun, 11 May 2008 11:50:50 -0800

I haven't gotten an email yet either. I emailed god hates math to see what's up.

By: mykescipark

mykescipark — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:32:52 -0800

I was going to harass ghm, but I'll watch this thread instead... my mix is ready to launch!

By: gemmy

gemmy — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:47:01 -0800

ghm said that he has been bogged down with RL stuff, but that the swapsets are incoming shortly!

By: sciurus

sciurus — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:23:24 -0800

Cool.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:04:44 -0800

Does anyone have any examples of artwork from past swaps?

I don't have anything scanned, but I have about 40 swap mixes laying about with original artwork intact, yes.

By: sciurus

sciurus — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:13:28 -0800

I got my swap list this morning!

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:43:27 -0800

I have not gotten mine yet....

By: sperose

sperose — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:50:53 -0800

I haven't gotten any swapset info either.

By: sperose

sperose — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:06:02 -0800

I got my swapset info this morning! Yay!

But I'm curious, does our mix have to be related to the swap title thingy? Or can it be something random and weird from within our own music collections?

By: god hates math

god hates math — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:23:48 -0800

Alright, finally, all the swapsets are out.

The last two weeks have been totally insane for me, I'm really sorry for the delay in getting the sets out.

For the record, the swapset names are just pulled from an alphabetical list of names of record labels. They are by no means any type of guideline for the content of your mixes.

And again, any concerns, if I screwed up any addresses (likely) or anything else, just email/MeFimail me.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:15:17 -0800

A note to anyone who uses Gmail, my swapset email got flagged as spam. If you do a search for "in:spam hello swapset", it should show up and you can unflag it.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:04:47 -0800

The e-mail got through to me just fine, and I use gmail.

By: sciurus

sciurus — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:22:37 -0800

I sent out my mixes yesterday!

By: Dave Faris

Dave Faris — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:43:48 -0800

I sent my mixes out today. $1.68 per in postage.