Prior to iPod Playlists, there were these little things called "mix CDs," of which I made many in 2000-2001. There was a communal burner at my workplace, and several of us would go in together to buy 50- and 100-packs of discs. Meanwhile, these were the sweet, beautiful days of Napster, so anything I allegedly downloaded, I'd burn to a disc to have it in my proper collection.

While cleaning out our office closet this weekend, I stumbled across a collection of my best mixes from that era. One was simply titled "Faves," made in around April 2001, and one, "Disc 21," to the best of my knowledge, was made around June. The playlists, highlighting what I considered to be the songs of the moment at that wild-ride phase in my life (just before I moved from Cincy to StL), made me chuckle ... some things never go out of style ("Santa Monica.") Some things (like "He Loves U Not," by Dream -- which I came across on Disc 16 -- on the other hand...). Oh - and with our old burning software, the simplest way to arrange songs was by artist, so hence the vaguely alphabetical theming ...

( Faves )


( Disc 21 )

OK, soon I will be converting these ... into iPod playlists. Ahhh, the end of an era.