Remember when you had a huge crush on that guy from your English class, but you just couldn’t get up the nerve to talk to him? You wanted to write him that perfect love poem that would express all your love and appreciation for his existence, but you were a terrible poet. So you made him a killer mix tape instead, with handwritten the liner notes and a custom cassette tape cover. Sure, he never asked you out and you found the tape in the lunch room trash can later that day, but at least you know your playlist was awesome.
The Mix Tape USB Drive (Perpetual Kid, $19.99) is a USB stick inside an old school cassette tape. So it looks like you made somebody a retro mix tape, but it’s actually a high tech musical playlist. The USB stick is 64 MB so you can get about an hour of music storage, which is the length of a really good mix tape. Sure, it’s a little less than your regular burnable cds, but it’s a whole lot cooler. So it’s not an actual cassette tape, but honestly, who really listens to cassettes anymore? Well, I do, but my Third Eye Blind cassette tape isn’t the main focus here.
USB memory sticks are great, not only because they’re ultra portable, but also because they’re PC and Mac compatible, so basically anyone with a computer can play them. The bad thing about them is that you can’t just pop this baby in your car and instantly jam out to some tunes. Your recipient of this special gift will have to transfer the songs onto a cd if they want that mix tape on the go. But it’s a small price to pay for a functional piece of nostalgia.
The replica of the C60 cassette tape folds out so you can write your own playlist/liner notes for more of that authentic mix tape feel. So now all you have to do is figure out the perfect 60 minute playlist, lay it down on your USB memory stick, write out some liner notes, and give it to that special someone. Let’s just hope that they don’t throw this one away.
4 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Gift pack includes USB memory stick, replica of C60 cassette tape, and message area
-64 MB memory stick
-Up to 1 hour of storage
-USB stick fits into replica of C60 cassette tape
-PC or Mac compatible
