3/30/08

Mixwit Makes Me Feel Young Again

MixwitI agree with the Washington Post's Kim Hart: Playlists really are the new albums. That is why I go to such ridiculous lengths to embed them on my blog, even as I'm thwarted by technology at every turn. Still unable to create a mix tape at Muxtape, I decided to try my luck over at Mixwit, the latest oddly-named make-your-own-mix-and-save site.

The results were far superior - for one, I actually got to make a mix! That was exciting. The whole process of making it was ridiculously simple: the site lets you search for music using either "the world's greatest mp3 search engine" Skreemer, or "why has no one arrested us yet" Seeqpod. [Editor's note: actually Seeqpod seems to be relatively legit - they were a sponsor at one of the SXSW parties I attended, and their t-shirts are top-notch.] If neither of those has your song, you can simply post a link to your mp3 file wherever it's hosted, no questions asked. That's pretty cool. I see sites like this kind of like head shops: hey, we don't know what you're going to put in that 4-chamber water pipe covered with grinning skulls and Phish logos, but we trust you to do the right thing.

Of course because I'm a bit on the obsessive side about my music, I had to upload my own versions of a couple songs that I found via the search...because they weren't tagged correctly. That drives me crazy. But other than facing my own anal-retentive demons, the site is a breeze to use. It streams the uploaded tracks like a champ - I'd love to know more about how the site works. Their blog says that they're running on a Rails host, and I think I know that playlist grid control from the Adobe Flex toolbox, but it might just be a regular Flash element. Either way, it rocks.

This whole process made me feel young again (I haven't made a physical mix tape in approximately 1,000 years) so I decided to make a mix of songs that I'm way too young to enjoy. These songs aren't necessarily aimed at someone older than me in every case, but I feel like liking them means I should be a lot older than I am. Anyway, I love them all. Enjoy, and please post links in the comments to your own mixtapes!



UPDATE: Holy crap! The little wheels turn as it plays! And the tape moves to the other side as you progress through the playlist!! I am amused!!!

6 comments:

kate said...

OMG - I love this! I'm so glad you found it (and that I found it thru you). I feel the same way about a lot of the music that I like. People 10 and 15 years older than me like the same thing.

99 said...

lovely. i gave up approx. 3 seconds into steely dan.

Newmanium Reveler said...

It's not the brashness of the line "the cuervo gold...the fine colombian..." - it's the fact that they repeat for one minute and 40 seconds or something like that.

Beautifully eclectic mix, especially with the blue/newgrass thrown in there. Good work, Gordon!

Unknown said...

found this when Amanda was pitching it on her status line. yea, woody guthrie! i went through a guthrie phase when i was 19. wanted to learn to play guitar and stick it to the man, dustbowl style. mmm. guthrie.

Unknown said...

http://www.mixwit.com/widgets/7512cf264b4aaf42dcc2cefe9c6e87b7

per your request. let me know if you have any trouble playing it.

Anonymous said...

Listened to the mix tape you made me. Very good stuff. I had it on as background music while working so I can't comment on every single song yet. You are a great man and the new blog is tight.

Check out which "Big Lebowski" quote Joe used to explain my real estate service on my new blog.
www.MyFirstHomeDC.com

Cheers!
Greg