Comment by scrumper

My daughter, 10, was really pushing for some way to access her own music back in the summer. At her age I got a walkman and was already making my own mixtapes off the radio using the big system in the living room. We swapped tapes at school, did all the things in the article. I just couldn't see that being a thing now in 2022. So we got her a HomePod Mini for her birthday and, sure, she plays her tunes and is happy-ish but there's no headphones (it's not private) and no way to take it with her, no sharing, no discovery, no peer-swapping at school - it's pretty crappy compared to the experience I had at that age. I'd have bought her an iPod but of course they were discontinued the year before so impossible to justify.

At the same time her friend bought her a little Jensen walkman with a copy of the Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix on it. She loves it! So I bought her some blank cassettes and now she makes mixtapes by playing off the HomePod into the Jensen's microphone. Quality is shit but she's young and nobody will be more pleased than me (among other things, a semi-pro audio engineer) when she complains and asks for something better. At that point I'll figure out some unholy solution involving a computer and a headphone cable and a tape deck. So much more complicated! So much for progress.

It really is an ideal format. Cassette is perfect. Siri most assuredly is not.