M is for Music

Someone recently told me: If someone shares their music with you, even if you think it sucks, you shut your mouth and listen to it and appreciate it. Because if someone is sharing their music with you, they're sharing their soul. I laughed really hard because I find it to be spot on. I remember the days of the Mix Tape. That was a lot of work. Not only do you have to choose the songs that are exactly perfect for your intended audience, they have be in the correct order to make the maximum intended impact and then you had to actually have access to those songs. This meant you had the song on another cassette, and had a double deck tape player or borrow from a friend or, the worst, attempt to record it off the radio which required impeccable timing. It was possible. When you were finished, you listened to the Mix Tape in it's entirety to make sure everything was right. Then and only then, could you pass it off to it's recipient. Never mind the fact that the person may or may not even listen to it (probably not if he was a high school aged boy) but it was the intention that mattered most.

Now a days, burning someone a CD still requires some of the above mentioned effort but it's not quite the same. Music is so much easier to access than it was 20 years ago. So with that being said, if someone takes the time and energy to burn me a CD of music, instead of saying "Hey, go to YouTube and listen to so and so...", you better believe I'm going to sit my butt down and listen to it. Because I know that if I take the time to make a mix of music for someone, it's special stuff and I like that person a lot.

When the iPod first same out, I was against it. I thought no way, I don't want to give up my CDs. Then I borrowed a friend's at the gym once and I was sold on it. Holy crap, those things hold an incredible amount of music. Now it's been six years and I have an iPod and and iPhone. I have my music with me at all times. It makes life so much better!