Shoot me for talking about Christmas prior to Thanksgiving, but give me a bit of credit for waiting until after Halloween.

I'd like to organize a cd swap for the upcoming Christmas season. We all burn groovy mix cds and send them to each other. It would be a cool way to connect with each other for the holidays. Besides, who doesn't like sharing their enlightened musical tastes with those around them?

I'm totally ripping off this idea from others and, therefore, I must recite the historical cd swap lineage and give props where props are due. Every now and again tj participates in a cd swap hosted at The Neurotic Fish Bowl, which references nosila as the cd swap progenitor. I've never participated in these swaps, but I've come close. I've stared at cd swap invitations for hours at a time while caressing my left mouse button. I've built intricate play lists in my mind and salivated at the anticipation of receiving new music. Do I or don't I? The decision against participating always comes down to a lack of familiarity with the host blog and the various participants. If I'm swapping cds I'd want to do it with people I know and that's why I'm hosting my very own swap.

As for the details:

1. Develop a play list.
   
2. Burn a bunch of copies in standard music cd format, not mp3s or wmas (I'm sure we all have the means for listening to these formats, but I think a cd that can be slapped into anything from a discman to a home stereo would be the most convenient format for everyone).
   
3. Send a copy of your mix cd to each participant.

Easy as 1-2-3-done. At this point, I have no idea how many participants there will be, but my outside estimate is ten. In fact, I'd be surprised if it even approaches that many. The other cd swap hosts subdivide their participants into groups of five, that way nobody ends up burning more than five copies of their mix. Given the intimate readership here at The Book, I'm not going to subdivide. As for the number of burns and total mailing postage… who knows, but ask yourself if you're willing to burn and mail ten copies. In return, you will receive the same amount of new music in return. What you get out of this swap is exactly what you put into it.


Rules and guidelines and other thoughts:

• The purpose of this swap is to get to know each other better, so I'm restricting the participation to regular followers of The Book. Not to be totally exclusive, though, if you stumbled here and are interested drop me an email and we'll discuss it.
  
• Given the above bullet, let's keep this on the d.l., yo. No need to advertise this and "spread the good word". This is our intimate tea party.
  
• If you're interested in participating in a larger cd swap keep an eye on The Neurotic Fish Bowl.
  
• I have a couple of readers in Canada, so there is an off chance that you'll have to send something across the border.
  
• Remember: intellectual piracy, if done properly, is shenright.
  
• I tossed around the idea of themes like the inner you, or soundtracks to your life, or music for prison showers. I decided against crimping your artistic style with rigid themes.
  
• With your cd, include a track listing that identifies the artist… in case I love a song so much that I want to run out and buy the cd.
  
• And also with your cd, include your name and some kind of contact info like a blog url or an email address.
  
• Make a cool jewel case insert if you're up to it. Personally, I'm not a graphic wizard so don't expect much from me.
  
• I thought I'd require that participants post their play list on their blogs along with a brief sentence about why each track was chosen. I decided against such a requirement, but it still might be a fun way to explain your selection.
  
• I won't be offended if people don't want to join. Often times what seems like a good idea to me is really a bad, bad, bad idea. Like that time I thought licking the wall outlet would be funny.
  
• If you have any questions or need clarifications, leave a comment or drop me an email.

Schedule:

• November 25, 2004: Thanksgiving is the due date for signing up.
  
• November 26, 2004: I'll send out a list of names and addresses to all participants. On this day you'll know exactly how many copies you'll need to make and where you're sending them.
  
• December 25, 2004: Ship your mixes so that they arrive at their destinations before Christmas. This gives you a month to burn and ship… plenty of time.

Sign up:

So you want to join in this celebration of music and love? Send me an email at estubby@gmail.com with your

• name
  
• mailing address
  
• email address
  
• blog url (if applicable)

...and so it was written, shenry at 11/15/2004 10:39:00 AM.
...and so it was appended with .