3D printed "mixtapes" from Makerbot

MakerBot has a delightful way of reviving the mixtape: a 3D printed MP3 player kit that looks like an old-fashioned cassette. You can either download and print the chassis yourself and assemble the device, or order the whole thing in assembled form. The Makerbot Mixtape holds 2GB, can be used as a thumb-drive, and plays directly through a headphone jack.

The MakerBot Mixtape

• [systmcrsh]

  i was just thinking today of making a mix tape/cd for someone. this is a cool idea if you have a maker bot. would be cool if you could individualize the manufactured one.  or even buy as a kit that you could use with an old cassette case.

• [Zak McKracken]

  Looks really cool, I love the idea. However, a 2GB MP3 (and only MP3) player with almost no user interface and internal battery for only 4 hours, costing 40$ … I don’t know. Maybe if the sound quality was really really good?

  • [MarlboroTestMonkey7]

     Think of it as a labor of love, like mixtapes.

    • [devophill]

       Is that the reason mixtapes were ever a thing? I thought I was making them because they were the ONLY WAY to make a copy of music to share. For $40 you could put 2G of music on a 64G flash drive.

• [Dan Limbach]

  Maybe they could have a cassette case with the battery, micro-amp and headphone interface, but you could insert your own SD card.

• [destroy_all_humans]

  i like the tape but i think i will just have to buy the replicator instead. Going to build my first house with one.

• [Jeremy LaGant]

  My next big purchase will be a Thing-o-Matic. I would kill for one but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. I’m rebuilding a couple of turntables and am missing some parts or parts are broken. It would be great to make my own parts to make it that much more custom. Also, what are the differences between a Thing-o-Matic and a Replicator?

• [jbond]

  Dear Lazyweb. The bottom end of the MP3 player market is now handled by CleverPhones ™. The mid end is handled by Apple with the iPod (for the moment). but the high end has been abandoned by Apple and everyone else. Where’s my 1TB iPod Classic? If Apple are  no longer interested and nobody else can see the market, can the lazyweb do it for them?

  ps. big discussion to be had here about whether collecting music is a completely outmoded concept in 2012.

  • [Ladyfingers]

     Sansa Clip. Best pure MP3 player available, expandable and hackable.

    • [doniphon]

       Hellz, yes.  Ogg, too.

• [G. Danken]

  but but but…piracy!

• [hedonistbot]

  haha, the alienation at the end… 

  A boy and a girl meet up to listen to each other’s music players. Has it really come to this? It’s Apple’s fault, you know.

• [Chentzilla]

  Can you just use an old cassette for that?

• [puppybeard]

  Do you have to be a tosser on a tosserbike to use it, or does it work for the rest of us too?

  Will it get me sex, or just the incredibly awkward handholding depicted?
  Or is this a covert drug-deal?
  Nobody will listen to it because if you’re like the people in this video, you probably have shit taste in music.

  Isn’t this a waste of valuable resources? 
  Why is it a crime when corporations don’t embrace the convenience of digital distribution, but when so-called “makers” fly in the face of progress, it’s something to be celebrated?

  “Here, I melted together a shitload of petrochemicals for something nobody needs, but I’ve convinced myself that by making it myself, I’m somehow a friend of the earth. I’m offsetting the carbon by using this bike, I mean, I know I could walk faster than I cycle this piece-of-shit, but bikes are environmentally friendly by default!”

  • [jsd]

     Damn, bro.

• [Andrew Singleton]

  Why does it cost so much? Also while I like the form factor and simplicity I have to say it could be improved by having a micro-SD slot on there.

• [eldritch]

  Skeuomorphism in action!

• [Jeffrey Baker]

  Pfft.  For half the price you can get an MP3 player that IS a cassette:

  http://www.amazon.com/AdapSonic%C2%AE-Car-Cassette-Adapter-Player/dp/B005LDF6ZK

  3D printing is a cute trick, but it’s no substitute for proper manufacturing.

• [i_prefer_yeti]

  reminds me of the SUCK UK usb mix tape 
  http://www.suck.uk.com/products/mixtapeusbdrive/

• [Joe F]

  I thought cassettes were those giant black round things?

• [Ari B.]

  If I knew of anyone near me that had a makerbot, I’d consider it just for the fun of building it. Otherwise? I’m doubt it’s something I’d buy just to have.