The Eternal Romance of a Valentine's Day Mixtape

The CD mixtape, much like the modern playlist, was first conceived, then burned — often by way of slightly illegal methods — and gifted to a friend or lover. It functioned as an audible token of affection. This gesture has, due to the countless technological advancements made in the audio landscape over the past two decades, since been rendered redundant. Thankfully, though, a quiet resurgence in the practice of CD burning seems to be permeating the fatally nostalgic, analog-leaning community.

The pendulum, as it often does, has swung back; and what better way to partake than by surprising your loved one with a love-laden mix this Valentine’s Day?

“Why burn a CD when one can simply stream a playlist?” a naysayer might ask. To which I respond: Why bake from scratch when Betty Crocker exists? Burning a CD is an act of care, of diligence and thoughtfulness. CDs, much like any tangible form of music — be it vinyl or cassette — are imbued with a palpable quality that digital music simply cannot replicate: intention. It's this quality that keeps the heart of the analog media market pulsing and drives musicians, keenly aware of this, to produce across these formats. This, in turn, emboldens collectors like myself to continue filling our crates with albums we view not only as personal investments, but as tethers to the artists we adore. The mixtape ultimately serves listeners who (again, like myself) wish to carry this element into their everyday listening habits.

Valentine’s Day, for those who have the pleasure of celebrating it — or, more accurately, falling victim to it — is more often stress-inducing than romantic. This stress is brought on by the many components of the day that require meticulous, sometimes month-long planning, with gifts as chief among them. Enter the mixtape. Not only is this one of the more cost-effective gifts a lover can give, but it also says: “I put thought into this.” The sentimentality of a personalized, tangible collection of love songs is enough to bring even the most stoic romantic to tears.

Beyond that, for the craftsman, the practice of mixtape-making can be therapeutic, allowing one to alleviate the collective ache we’ve all come to know so well of late — a nostalgia for simpler times, when the very threat of incarceration for music piracy gave kids around the world an anarchic thrill. This, in my experience, serves as the primary appeal of the craft. As the proud owner of a 2007 Toyota Prius with a faulty auxiliary port that only functions when it feels like it, I’ve found that CDs have steadily become a fixture in my life. Subsequently, so too has burning them. And often, while doing so, I’m reminded of my 9-year-old self, who frequently bore witness to her older brothers navigating The Pirate Bay whilst cautiously trying not to infect our household computer with pop-up viruses — an experience I’m sure they, like me, look back on fondly.

Now, as much as I wish I could offer a step-by-step tutorial, burning CDs does call for somewhat “frowned-upon” measures. I know, I know — I think I speak for everyone when I say the decline of our society can be traced back to the moment LimeWire went under. But hey, an artist has got to make their $0.004 per stream somehow. Fear not, though, for a quick web search should yield the answers anyone might seek. If not, ask the millennials in one’s life.

On the subject of millennials, who knows? Maybe tapping into the trends of yesteryear could usher in a much-needed shift in the zeitgeist. For we are living in a time of relentless optimization, blindly witnessing the erasure of handicrafts that once fostered creativity, camaraderie, and connection — a loss that has ultimately left even the holidays starved of these very things.

Rather than rely on the clichés that cement Hallmark at the forefront of the holiday industrial complex, this Valentine’s Day, indulge in the sacred craft of CD burning; for mixtapes, unlike their digital counterparts, carry weight. Literally, emotionally… and morally, come to think of it.

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