Machine Shop: Hype Machine Team Blog

A Chatroom Experiment!

We are testing out a cool new take on the old fashioned chatroom. Thanks to Firef.ly‘s software, the chatroom on HypeM Radio now interacts with the entire page. Just click the “Pop Open Hype Radio Chatroom” link and then move your mouse to where you want to make a comment and begin typing. You will also be able to see everybody else’s cursors moving around the page. You can also customize your avatar so if you come back often, people will know who you are!

The other benefit is if you aren’t interested in chatting, now you don’t have to be bothered with the chatroom. This is a unique take on the typical old chat, so there may be a learning curve. Play around with it for a bit and let us know what you think in the comments!

New Hype Machine Merch: MIXA!

We just teamed up with the team over at MIXA to release a limited edition MIXA designed by our own Zoya Feldman.

Hype Machine Limited Edition MIXA Digital Mix Tape

MIXAs are USB-drives cleverly designed like a cassette tape that would make giving a mixtape/muxtape to somebody extra special. If you’d rather design your own, you can use premade templates or even pull in photos from Flickr.

Related & highly recommended reading is Rob Sheffield’s Love Is A Mix Tape, which chronicles his relationship over the years with coordinating mixtapes. It is a quick read and will make you want to revive the ancient art of mixtapes. It also motivated me to go back and listen to Pavement again.

And if you’re looking for inspiration on what to fill your MIXA with check out Cassette From My Ex which is best left to The Guardian to describe:

Before iPods and MP3s there was only one way to impress a new potential love mate – make him or her a C90 mixtape. The consequences of this were perilous: based on your choice of tracks they could conclude that you were a freak, a potential psychopath or merely incompatible due to your obsession with early-80s jazz-funk. Those who hope these errors of judgment are now filed away in some distant landfill will be disturbed to learn that this website serves as a venue where owners of said cassettes can reveal them to the world – and the world can listen in – plus their tales and the artwork. One cover features a cunning lift-up flap that reveals a photograph of the maker’s “beautiful tallywacker”. Classy.

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