Review: Gerrit Herlyn & Thomas Overdick (Eds.) (2003). Kassettengeschichten. Von Menschen und ihren Mixtapes [Cassette Stories. Men and Their Mix Tapes]

Abstract

This book deals with the phenomenon of mix tapes, actual audio cassettes containing music which are privately produced and distributed. The book attempts to explain how such mix tapes are used and how meaning is ascribed to them by their producers and recipients, and to contribute to the fields of cultural studies and media research. For two related reasons these aims are not achieved. First, the book is stuck in the obsolete research traditions of "Retten und Bewahren" [retain and rescue] and thus is afflicted with a typical obsession with the artifact and latently utopian views on its subject. Second, blatant deficiencies in the underlying code of research devalue the findings of the authors. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0602146