Click below to listen to my playlist!
One of my favorite things to do ever is make music mixes. I think my dream job would be to be a music supervisor for films – finding the right songs to fit the right scenes. I do this thing when I’m out in public where, if I’m somewhere that pipes in music, and a song I really like starts playing, I immediately and involuntarily begin walking or moving to the rhythm or beat of the song.
My favorite songs in general are those that just make you want to move, and also those that seem to forcibly alter your brain chemistry, making you smile the second the sound hits your ears – the very best songs are those that do both. That’s what the above mix was all about, a mix of songs that make you want to move and songs that make you happy just hearing them, and a few songs that do both at the same time. Unfortunately, it was supposed to be embedded into the blog, which was my whole joy with finding this 8track in the first place, but I can’t get that to work right now. Anyway, you can still click on the link and enjoy!
This mixtape-making love has evolved over my lifetime, first on actual tapes, then expanding to include cd mixes, then ipod playlists, youtube playlists, and now online, streamable playlists. I’ve been trying to find an embeddable music player and, along with it, a way to access songs I don’t actually have in order to make playlists for myself and others. I don’t necessarily need to own these songs or be able to make actual cd copies of my mixes, I just want to be able to hear them with an internet connection, AND I want to be able to share them with others.
In this case, I’ve found 8track, where I can make you guys all kinds of great playlists, and you can hear the full songs, but, unfortunately, I can only hear 30 second snippets when I listen to them. The nice thing is I can listen to other 8track users playlists, too, which so far has been fun. But I would like to find some kind of music service where I can listen to full songs and create playlists that others can also listen to, too – I don’t know if all that exists in one service, program, or application though.
I think my embedding problem is because maybe WordPress doesn’t support Flash? That would seem bizarre, but it’s all I can think of. Every time I enter the embed code and update it just puts up a shorter code that doesn’t match what I initially typed in and doesn’t work. Whether it’s WordPress or just my own idiocy when it comes to any kind of code, I’d also like to be able to find a solution on that front, too. I might just have to find another music player that has embed code that is actually supported by WordPress.
Ever since my own laptop crapped out, I’ve been using Trevor’s, and I’ve lost access to all my own music. So lately, finding music online has been even more important to me than it ever was before. I like Pandora, less so since they added commercials. Youtube can be okay, but they also often have commercials, and playlists don’t run seamlessly enough, partly because of the commercials.
There’s a music blog called IndieShuffle that I enjoy exploring, and Shuffler.fm is fun, too. Shuffler works by letting you pick a genre and then doing all the music-blog legwork for you as it shuffles through various tracks posted all over the interwebs. Both IndieShuffle and Shuffler are great for discovering new music, but what I am missing right now is the ability to just find the song I want when I want it. I think I might have to breakdown and actually pay for some kind of service now, if I want the kind of accessibility I’ve been looking for – I’ve been looking into Rhapsody. Do any of you have any insight or other suggestions?
Emi Makes Stuff 
There used to be this website called Muxtape that let you do exactly what you’re describing, but then they stopped offering the service for legal issues. You could try searching The Hype Machine, but it’s always slightly obscure stuff.
Thanks, Selome! I saw your comment last month and just never remembered to respond. I’m still on the hunt though, so thanks!