A pioneer communication medium, the mix tape was the first opportunity for music lovers to listen to the selection of music of their choosing in the order they saw fit. Then the mix tape became the love letter of the late 20th century, the playlist of desire. Now we see them as a time capsule of an era when one could compile 90 minutes of music and make that collection permanent by popping out a couple of tabs in a cassette. In many cases we can now open those time capsules, without a cassette player, and grab the tunes right out of the ether.
