Each time a new technology pops up in the form of a web app, it becomes more and more apparent that old habits don’t die, but instead simply evolve to fit the times.
Today we’re taking a looking at a (very) new service that revitalizes the age-old tradition of creating a personal collection of songs for those special people in your life (or for yourself). Mixtaping.fm is a social tool for building and sharing digital playlists with an analog feel.
After logging in with Facebook or Twitter, you’ll be able to create your first mixtape. Mixtaping.fm gives you the opportunity to upload a cover image, or import a photo from either Facebook or Instagram to use as your cover. After settling on a cover and choosing one of several tape designs, you can begin to load your mix with songs.
The music library from which you can pull music is satisfactorily extensive. Simply begin typing a song in the field to right of the track listing, and use the drag-and-drop functionality to add songs to either Side A or Side B of your mix time. The counters above the search field will keep track of the total play time on each side of your tape, up to a historically accurate 30-minute per side limit.
Once your track list is complete, you can add liner notes and a dedication before sharing it either privately or across various social networks. Your mix tape can be “liked” and played by others, the statistics for which will be available to you on your tape’s page.
After you’ve finished working with your own mixtape, hit the Discover tab to check out others. You can view popular mixtapes or “mixtapologists” to see which tracks are used the most and build an identity of taste by liking tapes and tracks. It’s actually quite inspiring to flip through the tapes and see what drove each user to create the particular assortment of tracks they chose for their mix. It’s also a useful platform for discovering new music, as you can browse mixtapes by genre to find similar kinds of artists that you might like.
Under the hood, Mixtape.fm runs on a full-featured social network, providing you with the opportunity to connect with other users based on similar musical tastes. Follow a user to be notified when they put out a new mixtape. You’ll also be notified whenever another user follows you or likes your mix, and whenever any sort of activity surrounding your account occurs.
One of the coolest features of Mixtaping.fm is the blog (blog.mixtaping.fm), where the developers regularly post mixes of their own, made for the special people in their lives, holidays like Father’s Day, or both.
Mixtaping.fm is still in an early beta. The changes since it’s initial launch are already extensive, and we could see Mixtaping.fm add a surfeit of new social features, because after all, that’s what mixtapes are about. Check it out at mixtaping.fm
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