## Media formats shape the sense I believe the media we engage with most during our formative years profoundly influences our thinking and sensibilities. Among record and CD formats, cassette tapes offered a space for personal curation during a certain period. What we now call Spotify playlists could only be created by physically recording from CDs or radio. Around that time, there was also the CD rental service. You could only afford to buy CDs you really loved. When a new release came out, you'd go to the rental shop and make a tape. During that middle school era, mixtapes became a format that could be easily duplicated and distributed locally, serving as a way for rappers to gain fans. Personally, I think I love the culture that emerges and spreads in those places when duplication technology becomes democratized. ![[Pasted image 20251109174548.png |128]]