Thus beginning the long slow death-knell of the mixtape.

My daughter recently asked me if I still had any mixtapes that I made as a kid. Then I remembered the time my last cassette player died and the image of me tossing all of my tapes into the trash. :*(

We had one of these at the mall and it was great. I still have a few of these, though of course nothing to play them on. The technology at the time seemed FANTASTIC -- this was before the internet, before you could copy CDs, anything. At about 99 cents per song a tape could add up fast, since minimum wage at the time was, I think, about .75.

I discovered some of my all-time favorites through Personics, like Mission of Burma. It was also good for getting one-hit wonders or oldies.

Custom Cassette #1, "One Touch of Blasphemy":
I'm Your Captain
Looking for the Perfect Beat
These Foolish Things (Charlie Parker)
No Sell Out
Knock on Wood
Super Freak
Up for the Down Stroke
Sittin on the Dock of the Bay
Be bop a lula
99 Luftballoons
Alex Chilton
That's When I Reach for My Revolver

Custom Cassette #2, "Let Me Know When I Die":
The Humpty Dance
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
Paid In Full
Ball of Confusion
88 Lines
Pablo Picasso (John Cale)
Creature with the Atom Brain
My Little Red Book
Sin (NIN)
Atomic Dog
Basketball
Discipline (King Crimson)
Saturday Night (Schooly-D)

Custom Cassette #3, "The Invocation of my Demon Lover":
Private Idaho
Drinking and Driving
Just Like Heaven (Dinosaur Jr)
Two Headed Dog
Stone Free
Seven and Seven Is
Academy Fight Song
Chelsea Girls
Cars
Satch Boogie
Perfect Way
Built for Speed
Chemical Warfare
Deathlike Silence

I thought it was going to catch on in a big way.

I was into mixtapes by the hundreds, recorded off the FM airwaves, LP, CD. I've always been an archivist, but the tapes also fed my radio station too. You could say that Bow Wow Wow's C30, C60, C90 Go! song was my anthem.

I remember a mixtape duplicator system in my local record store, but not what the name of it was, I didn't pay too much attention to it, always scanning the cut-out bins for the cheap stuff instead.

For those who have cassettes but no player, yes, the drive belts do go bad in those with time, they stretch and break. You should be able to get belt kits for them, especially for some of the better cassette decks you'd want to keep. With quality decks of the 1980s-'90s, that's usually the only thing that's wrong with them.

For those with no decks and you just want something to hear your tapes again, Walm has a portable tape deck for around , found in the cheap portable and clock radio section in Electronics.

Boomer