not-a-fish wrote: 
Example... If you have 50 people this month, divide it into 10 groups of 5 each.  Have each person pick their own theme (or pick from a list of themes, or whatever you want to do here), then send their mix to the other 4 in their group.  Each person would make one mix, send it out to 4 people, and get 4 in return.  Total cost would be about $0.25-$0.75 per CD (if you buy in bulk like we do), plus postage and envelopes (maybe another $5-$10 max??).

But seriously, I agree with NWG— just pick a method and go with it.  I think whatever you decide will be fun!

 newwavegurly wrote: 

Ok, Ok....let me think about it and I'll post something definite tomorrow.

 not-a-fish wrote: 

Mayhaps something like this:

Month 1
PersonA gets PersonB
PersonB gets PersonC
PersonC gets PersonD
PersonD gets PersonE
PersonE gets PersonA

Month 2
PersonA gets PersonC
PersonB gets PersonD
PersonC gets PersonE
PersonD gets PersonA
PersonE gets PersonB

etc, etc.  Of course, to keep the mystery intact, you don't have to disclose who PersonA, PersonB, PersonC, etc. is, so we won't necessarily know from whom to expect the discs.

 kurtster wrote: 

My original idea was that you would send out 20 ish CDs and then get 1 CD every month from someone new.  Depending on the size of the group, you would not have to do this again for a very long time. :)  I thought about making it every 2 weeks too, but you would still only have to do that once in a blue moon because of the size of the group.

 not-a-fish wrote: 
Fishy, just decide how you want to do it, and those that like the idea will be involved. Those that don't can shove off.

 OCDHG wrote: 
I see the sense in the small groups as far as a monthly manageable expense. 

 dionysius wrote: 
I like this concept. Because that's about how many blank CDs I can afford. Is one. One blank CD. Per Month. 

 not-a-fish wrote: 
Seriously, whatever you decide on, I'll be happy with.  Good idea :-)

 dionysius wrote: 

Dude, that's exactly what I said...apparently you and I had a collective idea about 45 minutes ago.

 OCDHG wrote: 

lol  Ok...holy crap I did not forsee this to be that complicated!  I was all...tra la la...it'll work itself out! lol

The whole monthly theme idea of which I spoke earlier is for people who are interested in taking on that theme.  If they are not, they don't have to participate that month.  It would make it a "you get out of it what you put in it" sort of model.  Only the ones who signed up to participate that month would be matched up to someone.

I like the idea of a higher return, though...

 not-a-fish wrote: 

Why not do it like holiday Gift Swap? One donor to one recipient. Might make inividual programming possible, too.  

 not-a-fish wrote: 
Having a place to upload that stuff would be great.  I still like the small group idea over individual matches, just because the return would be greater.  You make one mix, you get a few in return.  But I'd be OK with whatever.  Also, in case one person is flaky, there are still a few others that you can count on   (Says the person who barely could get a postcard out in time )

 kurtster wrote: 

I liked this idea too...until I had 38 people interested right off the bat (on here and Facebook).  That would probably be enough mixtapes to make me hate this whole thing.  The idea of co-hosting would simply mean two or three people split the group evenly and send out each host's CD (about two or three depending on the size of the group) in one package.

 kurtster wrote: 
I think OCDHG described it pretty well down below, right after my post with those 3 different ideas of how it could function.
 
Except that I was thinking that there would only be 3 or 4 people making CDs each month instead of everyone doing it. NAF would have to take volunteers for each month, and then assign each of those people a small group that they'd be sending a CD to. The process would start anew each month, so that no one ever knew who they were going to be getting a CD from.
 
 
   
Almost makes me want to see if I hung onto any of my old mixtapes so that I could recreate them as a CD instead. All that old music that I had recorded off the radio back when I was a teenager...
 
The one-on-one exchange could be a lot of work for you each month, and it also means that everyone is making a CD each month. Not that I'm adverse to that, but not everyone might want to have to do it every month. 

 newwavegurly wrote: 

I like this best, at least at first.  Not sure what multiple host means.  Is that where you send a disc to several people who then recopy and forward new copies ?

 newwavegurly wrote: 

Nope - you hit it on the nose.  I wanted to do this for the love of mixtapes.  The actual physical, tangible sexy little things of my past, present, and future.

I think I like the one-on-one exchange the best as far as time, expense, and feasability goes.  In addition to the one-on-one, I do like the idea of uploading my cover art, liner notes, and mix to Scott's mac server for anyone who might be interested in getting their fix that way.  This of course would also be an optional afterthought.  Any thoughts? 

 newwavegurly wrote: 
I don't mind sending multiples.  I got a ton of blanks around the house and I can splurge maybe $20 on postage.  But yea, it could get expensive if group is big.  I like the small group idea.  Especially if you get a new small group each month.  Like 5-8 people per group?  That would be manageable, and you'd get 5-8 mixes in return, so...

 not-a-fish wrote: 
Road trip mixes are the best, natch.  For the giddyup music, we might need disclaimers about speeding tickets caused by listening to the mixes. 

 not-a-fish wrote: 
It's very much going to depend on how you want to do this...

• Is it a one-to-one exchange?
• Is it a multiple "host" thing where 3 or 4 people send CDs out to a couple of people each month?
• Is it the responsibility of one person to send CDs to everyone in the group?

 Different approaches work for each, but I do say it should be a physical CD exchange, no matter which way it goes. While I understand the appeal of digital music being exchanged, I think that sort of defeats the original intent you had for the group. Or did I misunderstand? 

EDIT: Then again, this is your project... so whatever you decide should be the way it goes.

 newwavegurly wrote: 

lol So my pilot theme is of course a road trip mix.  Would you be opposed to doing a road trip mix for someone?  I like the idea of voting on a theme, I'm fine with it being optional.