Week 10 Response - Changing Ownership of the Mixtape

In tracing my experiences with the changing nature of ownership in a digital world, the Playlist feature within computer and music products today is a good example of how mixtapes have evolved. I could still remember as a teenager having the cassette player on the ready to record songs that I liked through the radio, which believe me was not easy. The use of CDs came not long after in terms of creating mixtapes, and cassette tapes were then put to the side. But back then obtaining music by radio through the cassette player was “free” whilst nowadays practically everything can and must be purchased online.

Although while I spend my time nowadays purchasing music through iTunes, cassette tapes are still currently in use, if not for nostalgic purposes, especially when it comes to the mixtape. I credit the Guardians of the Galaxy film in some ways reintroducing the fun it came to listening to a cassette mixtape. So much so that the mixtape seen and heard in the film was even released in cassette form, in addition to its CD and digital formats.

Therefore just as you can purchase contemporary music through vinyl, you can do so also on cassette tapes. This then begs the question, what forms of digital ownership has reverted or gone back to its analog counterpart? Thus, is there a distrust in digital ownership that leads people to purchase original print and analog forms? I myself still purchase CDs when I find that I like listening to most or all of the songs within an artist's album. Although I enjoy more of the flexibility and freedom that digital music has given in regards to picking and choosing the one or few particular songs, without having to purchase the entire album.

- Raquel

Image source:

Google Images. (2016). Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Vol. 1. Retrieved from http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/mg/6/90/5447f2c0a199e/landscape_xlarge.jpg