npr.org: "Before the iPod and the random playlist of the MP3, there was the original: the mix tape.

The advent of the cassette tape some 30 years ago made it possible for anyone with a tape deck and some tunes to be a record producer, mixing and matching songs, genres and bands. And become at-home record producers we did.

Cheap and convenient, customized mix tapes made the perfect personal gift. We made tapes for friends, lovers -- we shared the depths of our souls through the carefully chosen songs. We aggregated our favorite party songs, ballads for suffering through heartbreak and our loudest, angriest punk rock anthems.

Thurston Moore, of pioneering art-rock-noise band Sonic Youth, explores the magic of the mix tape in a new book, Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture."

- Listen to the whole program

• Buy The Mix Tape: Art and Artifact at Amazon.com or Amazon.de