Excellent story. And love the H&C mention, that’s one of my all time faves.
The mix tape was certainly an art form. I remember making many tapes and swapping them with people around the world that I met on listserv groups in the early days of internet, around 1994-95. I got to showcase Australian music that they’d never heard.
Years later, the mix CD was fun to make, just select your 76 minutes of music I’d ripped to iTunes , burn it to a blank and give it to someone.
I think the art form is regaining a bit of traction with Spotify, but it’s certainly not the labour of love that making a tape was. It’s relatively easy to throw together a 20 song “tape”, and send the link to someone. I’ve certainly had fun sharing playlists with other people, particularly introducing them to music they don’t know!