DIY Valentine’s Day Mix Tape From the 1980s – Retro Love

Remember making Mix Tapes back in the 1980s and 1990s?

With a new cassette tape in hand, you simply had to find albums – or 45s – of your favorite songs, play them on your record player and record them to tape. Decorating the cassette tape label insert was a must, using colored pencils or markers worked best. Once that Mix Tape was done, you could listen to it over and over and over and over again in your vehicle while singing along – loudly – to the songs. Of course, you knew all the lyrics by heart, even if you hadn’t heard the song in a long time. I bet you still remember the lyrics to your favorite 80s tunes, don’t you?! I know I do.

This Valentine’s Day, I wanted to make something fun and unique for my husband. I decided on making him a retro Mix Tape of some of our favorite ‘love’ songs while we were dating. Sadly, none of our vehicles have cassette players these days, and a Mix Tape just isn’t the same when recorded to a CD or even put into a playlist on a smartphone. I needed to find a way to create a Mix Tape for him on an actual cassette tape that he could play. You can imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered a shop called The Blank Record Store on Etsy! The shop owner/creator uses vintage cassette tapes to make USB versions of a Mix Tape. Brilliant! I immediately ordered one of these USB Mix Tapes and created a special gift for my husband. I can’t wait to give it to him!

Create a Flash Drive USB Mix Tape Gift

Here’s how you can make your own USB Mix Tape, along with some song ideas to include. Have fun!

What You Will Need:

• USB Flash Drive Mix Tape (there are lots of colors and varieties available)
  TIP: The shop that creates these is located in the United Kingdom. Order early to ensure delivery before the date you need it.
• List of songs to include, and a source to copy those MP3 files from (see ideas below)
  TIP: Choose your favorite songs, or songs that have a special meaning to you and to the person you’re giving the mix tape to. It will become a cherished gift.
• Laptop or computer with a USB drive

What You Do:

1. After making a list of songs you want to include, you’ll need to find those songs in MP3 format
   If you own CDs with these songs on them, you can copy the song from the CD directly onto the USB Flash Drive Mix Tape using Windows Media Player. If you don’t own the CD, you may be able to borrow the CD at your local library. Here is a quick video tutorial to show you how to do this.
   
   If you own copies of the songs on iTunes, you can copy the song from iTunes directly onto a USB Flash Drive Mix Tape directly from iTunes. Just right-click the song in iTunes on your computer and choose COPY. Open Windows Explorer and PASTE the song onto your USB Drive. Once the file has been copied, right-click the copy and choose RENAME. Change the file extension from .m4a to .mp3 and press ENTER (choose YES if you see a message asking you to confirm).
   NOTE: Music from YouTube, Amazon Prime Music, Spotify and other similar sources cannot legally be downloaded from those platforms to your computer/USB drive. There ARE third-party apps that will convert music from these sources into MP3 format, but use them with caution, and make sure you know the legal ramifications of using these apps in this way before copying music. 
2. Use the COPY and PASTE commands on your computer to copy the MP3 files to the USB Flash Drive Mix Tape
   Put the MP3 files in a random order for random playback, or in a more meaningful order – your choice. 
3. Decorate the label on the tape using colored pencils or markers – be creative!
4. Once all the MP3 files are copied onto the USB Flash Drive Mix Tape, you can play them back using any media player on your computer
   Most computers have a default media player already setup – just click on the first MP3 song to start the playlist and use the media player to fast-forward, rewind, etc. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure the mix tape you make is strictly for personal use, as it is illegal to sell copies of music that may be copyright protected.

Variations:

• Add Photos – Don’t stop at just music, add special photos to your Mix Tape as well! Since this is just a flash USB drive, you can add anything you want to it! Photos, videos, music, music videos – you name it! Make it special.
• Add Love Notes – Do you have a box of all those love notes you received from your sweetheart? Scan them or take photos of them, and add them to the Mix Tape to make it extra special.

Favorite 1980s ‘Love’ Songs

Here are some of the best 1980’s love songs to get you started (listed in no particular order).

Madonna – ‘Crazy For You’ (1985)

Prince – ‘I Would Die 4 U’ (1984)

REO Speedwagon – ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling’ (1984)

Journey – ‘Faithfully’ (1983)

Foreigner – ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ (1984)

Huey Lewis and the News – ‘The Power of Love’ (1985)

Chicago – ‘You’re the Inspiration’ (1984)

REO Speedwagon – ‘Keep on Loving You’ (1980)

Bill Withers – ‘Just the Two of Us’ (1980)

A-Ha – ‘Take Me On’ (1985)

Foreigner – ‘Waiting for a Girl Like You’ (1981)

Air Supply – ‘Lost in Love’ (1979)

Phil Collins – ‘A Groovy Kind of Love’ (1988)

Chaka Khan – ‘I Feel For You’ (1984)

Air Supply – ‘Every Woman in the World’ (1980)

Berlin – ‘Take My Breath Away’ (1986)

Belinda Carlisle – ‘Mad About You’ (2003)

Excile – ‘Kiss You All Over’ (1978)

Tiffany – ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ (1987)

Chris De Burgh – ‘Lady in Red’ (1987)

Taylor Dayne – “I’ll Always Love You’ (1988)

Dan Fogelberg – Longer (1979)

The Motels – ‘Take the L’ (1982)

Do you have a 1980s love song to add to this list? Let me know in a comment below!