The Last Mixtape: Physical Media and Nostalgic Cycles [Paperback]

A reflection on the evolution of physical media into metaphor, through the history of music curation.
 
Obsolescence makes the heart grow fonder, at least in the case of the mixtape. Not all technologies are so lucky. Some (say, wax cylinders) fade almost completely from cultural memory. A lucky few pass into metaphor: we still “hang up” our smartphones, “cut” film, and “patch” computer code. As digital streaming completes the obsolescence of physical media, what will become of the humble cassette?

InThe Last Mixtape, Seth Long offers a microhistory of music curation, anchored by the cassette, from which he explores the meanings of obsolescence, ownership, nostalgia, and the speed of cultural change. A moving meditation on our relationship with music, memory, and curation in the digital century, Long ultimately calls for a return to the media ecology represented by the mixtape: a world in which media is cheap and abundant but tactile and meaningfully engaged.Seth Longis associate professor of English at the University of Nebraska.

The Last Mixtapedemonstrates that in a world of intangible content and instant gratification, people grow nostalgic and gravitate towards things they can touch, collect, and own. . . . By exploring the cycles of media obsolescence, the book makes a substantial contribution to technology-related cultural studies, and its strength lies in Longs conscious and passionate effort to defend physical media.

Long is right. The whole technology and culture of music is degraded at the hands of our current political economy of media.

InThe Last Mixtape, Long (English, Univ. of Nebraska) offers a nuanced history of the mixtape. His book examines the
mixtape not only as a nostalgic cultural artifact for members of Generation X but all£#