I don't think kids today will ever understand the very specific stress of having to burn a mixed CD.
By @gusok2 · Nostalgia
My teenager asked me how we listened to music before phones and I tried to explain it. Blank stare. The pressure of picking only 18-20 songs to perfectly capture a mood or impress a crush was immense.
The full story
My daughter (15) was complaining about her Spotify taking a second to load a playlist and I went into a whole "back in my day" monologue. I tried to explain what it was like creating a mix for someone in the early 2000s. First, you had to have the actual song files on your computer, which usually came from... questionable sources like Limewire or Kazaa. Then you had to pray they weren't a mislabeled virus or a weird cover version. Then came the agonizing process of curation. You had about 80 minutes of space on a blank CD-R. That's it. Maybe 20 songs if you were lucky. You had to get the order PERFECT. The first track had to be a banger, the flow had to be just right, and the last song had to leave a lasting impression. It was an art form. You'd spend hours arranging and rearranging the track list in Nero or whatever burning software you had. And the actual burning process! You couldn't use the computer for anything else while it was burning or you'd risk a buffer underrun error, which would ruin the whole disc (a 'coaster'). It took forever, and you'd just sit there watching the progress bar, praying it didn't fail at 98%. Handing someone a finished, sharpie-labeled CD was like handing over a piece of your soul. My daughter just looked at me and said, "that sounds so extra." And she's right, but it was OUR extra.
How people voted
- Facts — 35% (44 votes)
- Depends — 37% (47 votes)
- No Way — 28% (36 votes)
Readers are split: “Depends” leads with 37% — 127 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@benkk — Downloading a 3MB song over 45 minutes on dial-up just for it to be a weird Alvin and the Chipmunks cover.
@paigeliterally — The buffer underrun error was a core memory I didn't need unlocked today.
@jaredok — And the anxiety of giving it to your crush and waiting for their review.
@hollymaybe — lmao
@laurensorta — disagree. this sounds terrible. glad we have spotify.
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