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The Last Mixtape
Physical Media and Nostalgic Cycles
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Seth Long
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2025
About this book
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?
In The 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.
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?
In The 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.
Author / Editor information
Seth Long is associate professor of English at the University of Nebraska.
Reviews
"Comprehensive and meticulous, this will fascinate media scholars and audiophiles."
— Publishers Weekly“Is there a more talismanic piece of Jurassic technology, a greater Gen X madeleine, than the cassette? Long can tell you why that might be. The Last Mixtape is a vibrantly smart media history of ownership, in-built obsolesce, and nostalgia—but it’s also a rousing defense of the singular intimacies, with music and with one another, afforded by obdurately physical media, in all their creaking, buzzing, analog glory.”
— Peter Coviello, University of Illinois Chicago“In this brilliant, thought-provoking book, Long uses the mixtape–as an object, as an art form, as a concept–to launch into a wide-ranging meditation on the way we relate to music, media, memory, and so much more. Deftly analyzing how shifts in technology and culture have changed us, Long stands up for physical media, championing how the mixtape 'showed the world what it looked like for culture to co-opt capitalism for a change rather than the other way around.'”
— Marc Masters, author of 'High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape'Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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CONTENTS
vii -
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INTRODUCTION
1 -
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1: THE FIRST MIX TAPES
14 -
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2: HOT WAX PIRATES
42 -
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3: THE CASSETTE MIX TAPE
60 -
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4: THE CASSETTE MIX TAPE
80 -
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5: A RHETORIC AND POETICS OF THE MIX TAPE
102 -
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6: MUSIC WITHOUT A MEDIUM
117 -
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7:THE INFINITE PLAYLIST
140 -
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
165 -
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NOTES
167 -
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
179 -
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INDEX
191
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
June 12, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9780226840475
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9780226840475
Keywords for this book
Obsolescence; Cultural; Metaphor; Curation; Digital; Music; Memory; Seth Long; Last Mixtape; Ownership; Change; Media ecology; Tactile; Engagement; Analog; Technology; Cassette; Playlist; Personalization; Sharing; Artifact; Preservation; Materiality; Streaming; Vinyl; Retro; Archiving; Sentimentality; Collection; Authenticity; Craftsmanship; Tangibility; Ephemera; Auditory; Compilation; Narrative; Intimacy; Creativity; Customization; Remix; Generational; Audiophile; Memorabilia
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
