Hannah's First Mix Tape
I finally broke down and loaded Hannah's MP3 player. Yes, Hannah has a Playskool MP3 player. She received it for Chanukah, and I was sure of three things when I first saw it:
- Either while loading the software or trying to upload songs into the player, I would experience an aggravating, several-hours-to-diagnose technical issue. Rule: I always start these projects an hour before bedtime. Inevitably, sleep is a casualty.
- Once installed, I would need to find some music to load to Hannah's player.
- Music? I know just the thing! It's buried somewhere deep in the music stacks. Days later, a search party would be organized to find me.
Well, 1. wasn't too bad, actually. The MP3 player doesn't play .wma files, but manages just fine with mp3 conversion. 2 & 3 - well, I only disappeared for a few hours altogether.
In the end, Hannah received her first MP3 mix. The "playtime" song list starts with the Fraggle Rock theme and includes Laurie Berkner, Barenaked Ladies, Milkshake, They Might Be Giants, and others. It ends with The Fantastic Leslie's version of "Movin' Right Along" from The Muppet Movie. Sleeptime includes more Laurie Berkner, David Sylvian, Arcadia (okay, I had fun on this side), and many other slower, quieter songs.
After several hours of putting this together, I handed it off to Hannah who had recently awoken from a nap. She quickly connected the play button to both "Start Singing" and "Skip Song." No song-pause was safe from her thumping hand! Fraggle Rock often got the boot. Laurie Berkner's "Victor Vito" didn't have a chance with the quiet start to the song. They Might Be Giants' "Birdhouse" got a full-play pass each time. And "One Week" kinda grew on Hannah after the first pass or two.
So Hannah is enjoying her music (though, now, she sleeps - finally). If you, too, grew up assembling mix tapes for every occassion, friend first-contacts, and dating tryouts, may I suggest:
