brandog wrote: 
If you were to read through the posts for the forum so far, you would see that this option has already been discussed/debated.

If somebody has a nice server out there, the mixes could be posted as MP3 downloads - no CDs to burn & send - a group account / password, simple link...

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 

But I actually like Dengue Fever...

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 

No mystery, just rotation after everyone in the group has hosted a month.  :)  I'm going to get ready for work now...go be productive and chit.  I'll post more later today after I've contfirmed the other people can host this month. :D

 maryte wrote: 
Nothing but Dengue Fever for you then.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 

I posted that before I realized there would be smaller groups.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
i agree

and it might even help knowing who you have. check out their interests - not to totally tweak everything for their likes/dislikes...but still.

for example - i'm not a fan at all of jam bands - esp. phish/widespread panic. i'd hope that i didn't get a cd of phish/w.p. BUT others i may not have heard of, i'd be interested in hearing - IF it coordinated with the theme.

actually, it shouldn't be about the receivers preferences at all. it's about sharing and if someone wants to share stuff i normally would turn my nose up to, who knows - maybe it would open my eyes a bit.

 maryte wrote: 
I don't think the mystery adds enough to the event to be worth the effort. After the first one, everyone would know who's in their group anyway, so I say don't even try to make that an aspect of this.

2¢

O man...it is so early, but I must...bump...this.

Let me know if you are interested.  Size really does not matter now. ;)

 not-a-fish wrote: 

Well, I got a lot of positive responses (38), but only 20 actual addresses (including mine).  If we grow, we grow.  But for now, 20 actual addresses is still manageable for me.

Let me break down my crazy logic for you and see if you are still interested.  I have decided that...

1) The file-sharing thing would be awesome, but I worry about the legality of it.  A mixtape is legal no matter which way you slice it.
2) I want to have an actual mixtape in my hot little hands every month because this club is for the love of the mixtape (it's a culture, people!) and not for the love of the playlist.
3) I want as many people to participate as possible.  Therefore, if half the people who signed up for this are freaking out about sending out 20 CDs during their host month, I would rather find a different option.
4) I like the gift-swap model, but I would really like to share my mix with more than one person.  This is a club.  I want to discuss and share and discover new music with my friends in the club.
5) The idea to break the mail-out into groups seems to migrate best when considering the possibility of growth in the future.  However, I'm not so certain I would like to be sent 4 CDs a month.  Seriously...I want to be able to savor what I got from someone.  This model is a bit more hard core than I originally wanted.  I don't want to be making a mix every month.  Even if I wanted to, life happens.  Trust me when I say this - it can take me a week or more to make the perfect mix and get it ready for delivery.  I like to take my time.
6)  I feel I can comfortably manage groups broken down into 5 people.  Presently, that means there will be 4 groups.  1 host per group.  I'll ask the first 3 people who contacted me and said they were interested to be co-hosts with me this month.  We will pick our own themes, but I'll still leave a list of themes on this thread for anyone who might be stuck and in need of a little inspiration.

In a nutshell, if you join this club, you will be creating a mix of songs, burning it onto 4 CDs (5 if you make one for yourself), and sending it out to 4 addresses once every 5 months.  Please tell me that this is feasible.  You will be getting 1 CD every month filled with great tunes.  That's a pretty good return on investment.

Anyway, how will this go down, you ask?  You will be placed in a mailing group of 5 people (this will be decided by the order in which you all mailed/messaged me).  One person from your group will send out 5 CDs (or rather, 5 copies of the same mix with cover art and liner notes optional). The next month a new host from that same group will send out 5 CDs.  Hosts will rotate within those groups until everyone has had a chance to send out his or her mix to the group.  Once everyone within that group has sent out a mix, we will switch up the groups for a little variety. 

Jesus Christ Superstar!  I never thought this would be so challenging!  Still, I think I've come up with something pretty fair.  Let me know what you think.

Best,

Stephanie

 not-a-fish wrote: 
Cool,
G'nite from the south shore of Lake Erie.

 not-a-fish wrote: 
That's what I thought, too.  That is still quite doable for me.  More than 20 could get hinky.  It would only be twice a year or so in this scenario.

 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.