Mixtape Redux

As a teenager, in the gone all-analog era, I spent hours and hours making mixtapes. It went like this:

If you like somebody, make and give this person a mixtape. If you want to show your rebellion and test your parents, make yourself some mixtapes and manage to have them played in the car. All the time.

USB flash drives, today, are as handy as cassettes almost were yesterday.

A few years ago, I saw a cardboard mixtape-shaped USB drive case there, and found the USB idea quite neat. But I wanted something more, well, authentic.

And very recently, I wanted to share music with a person I like.

The above intro picture tells it all, you now have the whole concept. Really want more details? read on...

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Step 1: Needed Stuff

Materials:

A compact cassette. A model assembled with screw, not heat staking. So that you can open it.
A cassette box.
A cheap USB flash drive, with a physical size that can fit into the cassette, as described in the next step. The keyring hole position should be placed so as to ease the placement of the pivot, if possible using one of the cassette's small holes (see step 4).
You will also need one small (M2) screw, and two nuts.

Tools:

Screwdriver
Cutter or X-Acto knife
File
Drill press (or Dremel) to adjust the USB flash drive
Flat pliers

spyromaster says: Jul 15, 2011. 9:47 PM

You can keep the tape reels in to make it look more realistic.

deathnotx101 in reply to spyromasterOct 15, 2011. 5:42 PM

That's what I did! Just winded it up to the appropriate out of the way portion, get a tooth pick with a speck of glue, and BAM!

deathnotx101 says: Oct 15, 2011. 4:52 PM

Gave one to my friend, their Walkman and ticket, she said,"This is pretty kool; I might as well kick it." :) No, not really! Fresh Prince was my favorite. It's really weird to be 15 and nostalgic.

2tnt says: Jul 14, 2011. 9:01 AM

Good project! Better idea!

I will make same project for me :D

Thanks for sharing!

fredlb says: Jul 21, 2011. 12:21 AM

great !

lumpee says: Jul 14, 2011. 7:18 PM

Now,what to do with those old 8tracks. :) Am I giving my age away?

zack247 says: Jul 6, 2011. 1:19 AM

haha i like it! when i was a lot younger cassette tapes were still all the rage, (this was either before or just after cd players stepped onto the scene, 1999-ish) and i had a old cassette stereo, i still have the mixtapes from back then, but my taste in music haas certainly changed since then..

as i was reading your walkman comment i got an idea for a possible version 2:
have the usb plug capable of plugging into a walkman modified to have a usb connection inside for the flash tape, then give that to your friend as well, in my opinion, it would add that extra little touch to the perfect gift.

the one thing i can still remember about tapes though, there was no skipping when you hit a bump in the road...

imark77 in reply to zack247Jul 14, 2011. 11:17 AM

and no scratches that caused half the music not to play or whatnot.
And don't forget rewritable with no DRM. if you didn't like the band, a strong magnet and it was all over.