Mixtapes just 'aint what they used to be. One of the most democratic forms of art collecting is being made even easier by a handful of fun new websites.
Is it legal? Will it last? We don't know and we don't know if we care. These services are such a joy to use that they reinvigorate our appreciation for what the social web can do.
The elegant simplicity, combined with the tech success of its New York founders, has made Muxtape the mindshare leader in the online mixtape market. Users upload up to 12 MP3 files and then publish their collection. The interface is like one big button and it's a lot of fun to explore different peoples' collections of favorites.
All kinds of mashups have been built on top of Muxtape. See, for example, our coverage of Muxtape With Coverflow [Mac] (pictured below), MuxtapeStumbler, MuxSeek Search Engine and MuxScrobbler - a script to synch your Muxtape listening with your Last.fm user profile.
The newest entrant into this field is much easier to use for publishing collections. Favtape creates a Muxtape-like interface for listening to the full-length version of your Pandora or Last.fm favorited songs.
It's simple, but it's very cool. There are tie ins to Lyric Wiki, a ringtone search, the ability to listen to more songs that are similar or by the artist and other features. It's powered by the Seeqpod API, which must be one of the most popular APIs on the web lately.
Favtape just launched this week, but we really like it already.
MixWit is a Flash mixtape creator with a very nice interface and the ability to embed your player on a web page. See my example below. This service can have songs added by URL or through Seeqpod or Skreemr MP3 search.
Hint - click the play button below, or if you're reading this by RSS - click here to see this embedded player in action.
It's a relatively full featured Flash authoring environment and exemplifies the design possibilities that emerge from a confined space. The cassette tape border around images users upload is really visually appealing. It's all pretty easy to use and it's a whole lot of fun. It's more fun to use as a publisher than either of the services above and it might be more fun for listeners too.
It appears that there are some performance issues, though, as the "menu" command often doesn't work with Mixwit. That should bring up a collection of other mixtapes.
Different mixtape services serve different purposes. The point though is that this art form is becoming easier than ever before.
Mixtapes used to be something you put a lot of time and effort into, typically making one copy to give to one other person. The loss of that art form is a little sad. These services are something very different, they are very public and considering the free music widely available online - scarcity is no longer an issue.
Are these services legal? That's unclear; they are riding a thin line and legal decisions may be made about services like this in the coming years. Streaming, as opposed to full, direct downloads, is a different animal. The original mixtapes were arguably illegal as well, though, and what a loss the world would have suffered if that medium had been strangled.
We find the new mixtape publishing scene pretty heartwarming, in fact. We hope you'll enjoy testing out the services above - and leave us a link in comments to your mixtapes so we can all know what kind of music the RWW community likes to listen to!
CC photos used above include the following from Flickr: radio:cassette drawing from my primary school days by Alicia Yeah, "The Tree" by helmet13, An intense morning break over the Angels Bay, French Riviera by mamjodh
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Comments
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Muxtapes is great, though I think the product needs a little more development. Is there a business model here though? What are these products for, other than fun? (Though they are a lot of fun.)
Posted by: David Speiser | July 22, 2008 2:15 PM
thanks
Posted by: wed-gan | July 22, 2008 2:32 PM
comment #1: if you're talking about more features, i disagree -- i think one of Muxtape's strongest wins is its distinct lack of features. it does one or two things, and it concentrates on doing them very well. simple, simple.
of course, if by "development" you mean increased speed and stability, then i'm with you.
ps: here's mine, snackfight.muxtape.com
Posted by: michael calore | July 22, 2008 2:47 PM
David - the obvious business model is music discovery - free to stream at medium bit rate, click to buy. It's another take on the sort of service last.fm or Pandora provide, but less automated.
Mix tapes used to be a really good way for sharing music with friends - you'd tape them a few tracks you thought they might like but probably hadn't heard - and that was how a lot of music got passed around, especially stuff that you wouldn't hear on the radio.
Posted by: JulesLt | July 22, 2008 3:45 PM
I personally like Project Playlist. They have more of the music I like available. And they have a nice player that you can embed anywhere.
Posted by: maestrojed | July 22, 2008 4:21 PM
Mixwit's my personal fave...it'd be great to share their flash-based mixtapes here...
Posted by: Trent Olson
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July 22, 2008 4:36 PM
Mixwit is great for hitting two mp3 search engines fast too :) *edit* Favtape is new to me, I like the scrobbling inclusion.
Posted by: Michael W. May
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July 22, 2008 4:54 PM
@MWM: do you have tapes up there? I forget if you can search by username or not, but if so what's yours there?
Posted by: Trent Olson
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July 22, 2008 4:56 PM
I've been using Muxtape and have been pretty happy with it. But I agree with David (@1) that it needs some more functionality. The ability to comment and share more easily seems like a no brainer. That would make the whole process of sharing music even better.
I hadn't tried MixWit... but I'm loving that interface. And the ability to embed anywhere is nice. Again, something Muxtape should be thinking about...
Posted by: adam christensen
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July 22, 2008 5:30 PM
I'm either joffi or joffi222 (if joffi isn't available) everywhere
Posted by: Michael W. May
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July 22, 2008 6:03 PM
I just tried out Mixwit...very fun, cool idea, and nicely implemented. Thanks!
Posted by: Sean Brady
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July 22, 2008 6:58 PM
You are so right: "Mixtapes used to be something you put a lot of time and effort into, typically making one copy to give to one other person". Now days it became easier and much more fun to make, and then share not only with one person but with the rest of the world. It is so much fun to browse and find interesting Mixtapes that other prepared.
For the cool retro interface design MixWit is a big winner and recently they added the useful mark tape as favorite feature.
I recommended MixWit to few people and got them hooked...
Posted by: efimor
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July 22, 2008 9:12 PM
We just launched www.makeatape.com - and it's getting some steady traction. No way near as big as the ones that you've highlighted, but hey - mighty oaks... and all that!
Posted by: Rax Lakhani | July 23, 2008 5:13 AM
thank you for introducing me to muxtape - i am in love.
Posted by: kate8 | July 25, 2008 8:15 AM
I like muxtape just as it is. No clutter, no ads, just a straightforward, simple interface. Click the title, play the music. What could be simpler?
I'll have to check the other 2 services.
oldie45s.muxtape.com
Posted by: mel | August 8, 2008 9:05 AM