On reclaiming intention in a world of infinite playlists.
A few weeks ago, while sharing songs via links with a friend over texts, I found myself missing the process of making mixtapes. In the early 2000s, the practice of burning CDs demanded intention because of its limitations. You had to think about so many things — once you decided on the songs and their order (making sure everything fit onto a CD-ROM, roughly 650MB or 60–80 minutes of audio), you’d settle on a title, cover art, and all those little details that told the person you cared about them. Or maybe you were going on a roadtrip and quickly scribbled something on the CD, careful not to scratch it and holding it without getting fingerprints on it.
This idea resurfaced while I’ve been on a larger journey to reclaim my time, data, attention, and money from “Big Tech”. I’ve cancelled streaming services and stepped back from most social media (except YouTube and the occasional jaunts into Reddit & X/Twitter). It’s been difficult, annoying, and inconvenient — but I’ve been enjoying myself more. A little friction is okay. We’ve let convenience dominate our lives, and for what, really? But I digress.
My digital mixtape project.
I wanted something beyond a playlist on an app. I wanted to carry the care, curation, and [[intention]] of CD mixes into a fully digital experience that lives outside of any streaming platform. And I wanted more than just embedded links on a page. Everything behind this project is intentional — from the core idea down to the experience design.
These are songs I own, that I choose to host and share for a limited time — which introduces an element of ephemerality, a kind of quiet [[artificial scarcity]]. It’s not groundbreaking technology. It was never about that. It was about the intention behind it. Anyone can make a playlist and share a link. So even when I doubted myself, I held onto the feeling that made this feel worth doing.
This is what makes it special to me:
- Curated from my own collection, away from the algorithm
- A designed artifact that feels made for someone specific
- A personal touch with a retro, nostalgic feel
- Songs are only live for 30 days, then quietly retire with a farewell message
- Living on my own corner of the web — not inside Spotify or YouTube’s interface
The underlying mechanism is simple, but I hope the intention behind it shines through — unimpeded by the noise of today’s internet, in its own self-contained little world.
Listen to my digital mixtape here.
Inspired by the delightful sounds from [[Brazil]], it is a journey into the rich [[sonic tradition]] of the [[African diaspora]].
Tech Stack:
Claude AI · Playhead · CSS · JavaScript · Python · HTML
I used the Playhead App to create my playlists. Then, I exported the playlist into a JSON file for track information.