Fenxy

Well it has to hit a genre, but be expansive within that genre. Not too many well-known hits, but enough to keep the flow of the mixtape going and then filled in with "underground" classics that haven't been heard by many.

If you are going old school though you can put up the hits.

When cd burners first became affordable to consumers I had a ton of mix discs. Of course before that I had tapes, but the quality and durability was always so bad it I gave up on those.

You always have to have a theme, but I don't think you always have to limit to one genre. For example I had a "Night" CD filled with songs that felt right being played at night, especially driving through the city. I had a "Funky" disc filled with some of the off the wall one hit wonders. I even had a "Music to shoot people by" which was made for a night me and some friends rented out a laser tag arena.

When I make a hip hop tape, I try to make sure they all have relatively the same beat. Or the same feel within the songs. I'm not a really big fan of the popular hip hop though. Not the stuff you hear in dance clubs or the like. I'm a fan of old school hip hop and hip hop with a message. That'll be my next mix tape. I haven't listened to that stuff in forever.

@Ozone42: I usually make mixes that have a theme because it's so much easier to pull off. What I'm doing now is just mixing stuff together trying to find that perfect mix without having much in common. And I usually have the same songs on the mixes, just piled in with other songs. But you usually see three or four of the same songs over and over again.

joshawesome, if you have any hip hop mixtapes on the web, please link me. I've been looking for other peoples mixtapes since I got into muxtape.

I normally listen to hip hop mixtapes too, and when I make them I try to set a tone with the beat throughout the whole tape, whether it's laid back or more upbeat, etc. I also sometimes start out with low paced stuff, the speed it up a little bit then bring it back down towards the end. Almost like trying to tell a story.

I also have my own style in that I always end every mixtape with an instrumental. It's a good way to wind down a mixtape and reflect on what you just listened to.

JPhill: I don't have any up on the web yet, but I'm getting there. I've been trying to find some good hip hop mixtapes on muxtape but haven't found one that's really special yet. But I will keep you informed when I post any up or if I find any good ones.

I also sometimes start out with low paced stuff, the speed it up a little bit then bring it back down towards the end. Almost like trying to tell a story.

I do this sometimes too. It's a great way to get into the mixtape, especially if you're giving it to someone.

See I don't think they have to be the same feel, but the tape should almost be a journey guiding you through different styles at times. Order of songs is just as important as the songs themselves.

Order of songs is just as important as the songs themselves.

I spend hours trying to decide the order of songs.

I've been trying to find some good hip hop mixtapes on muxtape

Here's the latest one that I made, I think I liked my first one better: jphill.muxtape.com

@JPhill: I'm listening to it now. So far so good. This is along the lines of the hip hop I'm usually into.

Here is the one I just finished. It's not hip hop. I wish muxtape let you do multiple mixes. I still don't think it's done, but oh well.

It looks like Muxtape is meant to be fluid - I use it with a group of friends and because the pages have RSS enabled, we each get notified when we re-do our lists. It's really easy and keeps us all at it!

My current one is here: http://publicenergy.muxtape.com - completely different to previous versions that were there.

If you really do want multiple lists, I've seen people who have created multiple logins and create lists and leave them there.

publicenergy: I like how it has RSS, but most of my friends don't use RSS. Most of them really don't have any concept of blogging either. Also, I like keeping my mixes separate. And creating multiple logins is just a hassle. But, as far as muxtape goes, if it were to never have the capability to use multiple mixtapes I would still use it. It's amazing.