Muxtape is incredible!
My friends recently turned me onto Muxtape. This is a sweet site that lets you upload 12 mp3's to make a mixtape. You can then share it with friends by sharing the URL. It is such a beautifully simple idea. For each song there is a link to Amazon where one can purchase the track/s. One can easily appreciate what a good sales/marketing model this is immediately. I've already been exposed to at least 10 bands I had heard of, but had never heard. Now I'm probably going to buy some of their music, whereas if I had not heard them--I would not buy their music. Sure you can sample tunes in many manners--its just that Muxtape has that social networking recommendation thing going on. Perhaps this is something the slow moving publishing industry will notice and take a cue from. I'm fantasizing about having a library muxtape with selections taken from the library collection and then having links to the records so they can be placed on hold easily. Simple is beautiful...