All good things must come to an end. I’ve decided to shut down the CD Mix of the Month Club. The March trade will be the last.
What began as a lark in November 2001 has grown beyond my wildest dreams. By my back-of-the-envelope calculations, 1,342 CDs have been traded in the last five months alone. The site has twice been the Link of the Day at MSN. It’s even been mentioned in the New York Times.
But it’s time. As you might imagine, it can be an incredible pain in the ass to arrange 100-plus CD trades every month. Just printing liner notes and folding them into their CD cases takes hours — not to mention addressing envelopes, matching CDs, licking stamps, maintaining the database, and dealing with dozens of emails a day. The upshot is that I haven’t even had time to listen to any of the mixes I’ve received for months. That doesn’t exactly go with the spirit of the trade.
There are also a few immediate reasons for the shutdown. I’m in a very busy period at work, and that won’t change for a while. And for whatever reason, traders were substantially less generous with financial donations this month than in the past. In a typical month, I break even on cost or else spend only $10 or $20 more than I receive. This month I had to pay about $100 out of my pocket, just to buy postage and supplies. That’s obviously not sustainable.
But honestly, I’d probably be killing it off even if cash was flowing in. It’s just time to do other things.
I have to extend major thanks to three people without whom this would have died off some months ago: Matt, Thomas, and Amanda. Those three volunteered to take over the most time-intensive single task each month, actually burning the CDs. (I’ve got a slooooow burner.)
And major thanks to all the traders out there. I’ve gotten some great music from you guys, and I hope you’ve enjoyed what I’ve offered up. Keep in touch, people.
So, whether you’ve traded before or if you’re new to all this, by all means sign up for the March trade, which will proceed as normal. The deadline isn’t until March 17.
14 thoughts on “cdmom dies”
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it’s sad to see cdmom go, but i can see how the time and money could be start to become an issue. it had a nice run though.
Well, I must I am deeply saddened by this announcement, but I do understand, I was lloking forward to getting your mixes EVERY month and you turning me onto new music, oh well……I will miss this….hope the March mix goes out with a bang…….Thanks Josh for doing this and I do understand I personally wouldn’t have shelled out the $ for postage.
Good luck and I will miss this
MICKEY!
well…. let me be the first to say:
Thanks!
Your CDMOM was awesome! I understand the reasons behind ending it, but I’ll miss it. Hope things go well for you….
thanks for organizing the CDMOM. i participated for about four months in the middle of 2002 before i retired. got turned on to some good music in that time. got my website linked on crabwalk. got one really crappy bonus mix and three pretty good ones. when all’s said and done, you’ve left your mark on the world with this endeavor. good show.
i knew it was coming and i have to say i am very dissapointed but i also understand your reasoning..i have been in the club for a year now and have been turned on to some very good music. i need to find other ways to get turned on to different music, does anyone have any suggestions? thanks for all the tunes josh and i wish u the best of luck in further endevours..does anyone out there have any suggestions for ESSENTIAL ALBUMS? start to finish classics is what i’m talking about.. i am open to any thoughts…peace out.
One suggestion would be that a few of us who want to keep trading and getting some new tunes each month might start a small swap of our own… i.e. One month I trade cd’s with 2 people on the list, then next month I can trade the same CD with 2 different people, etc. I think it would be VERY easy to organze… and actually easier for us b/c we wouldn’t have to make as many mixes. If Josh isn’t interested in starting it up, I would be more than willing… Somebody email me (kelly_mcmahon@yahoo.com) if you think this is a decent idea. Thanks again Josh, for all of your hard work with this Club – it was GREAT!!
hi josh, sad to see it all go as i was just jumping onto the bandwagon 🙁 best of luck in the future, and will look forward to the final march mix 🙂 kelly, i’m very interested in keeping this going…will write you an e-mail ! 🙂
it was fun but i too understand the issues. from a selfish perspective, i got turned on to a couple of good bands and ended up making one good email friend! so thanks.
I feel so cheap. I sent you my CDs with no money this month thinking I would put extra next month. I’m broke (until Thursday) and I’ll send you my usual contribution with a thank you card. I was new at this but got excellent mixes. Merci!
It’s just my luck that something great shuts down the minute I find out about it! But seriously, thanks for creating the exchange, and I think we all understand your actions.
At work we had an alliance on SurvivorDeadpool.com for Season 4, but when Season 5 rolled around, we were greeted with a page saying that the Deadpool was no more. My co-workers ask me why it shut down; I said I didn’t know anything for sure, but hmm, could it possibly be that THEY WERE TIRED OF ALL THE CRAP??? Is that possible? Gee, I don’t know …
In addition to all the work of maintaining the Deadpool, they had to take crap from people who waited until the last minute to submit their guesses and couldn’t get in due to all the site traffic, and insist that their votes be counted after the fact. They probably had to take crap about the scoring system, page design, and who knows what else.
Josh, I don’t know exactly what crap you had to take, but I’m absolutely sure there was some. Thanks for putting up with it as long as you did!
kudos for your perserverance, josh =)
BrykMantra wrote: It’s just my luck that something great shuts down the minute I find out about it!
So its your fault! Thanks alot! 😀
I skipped last month because I was actually thinking of stopping participating. Not because I didn’t enjoy the music, it was always a treat to get something in the mail that excited and challenged me, but because I was running out of music and creative ways to package them. Always feeling the pressure to *try* and live up to the standards of the music I received was wearing me down.
Guess I’l sign up for March and try not to make my mix out of all blues…
Thanks Josh.
Josh, thanks for the good work and thanks to everyone who sent mixes. It has been great getting two CDs of exciting new music. Even if I already have some of the music, it’s always nice to see it on a different compilation. For anyone who wishes to continue trading on an irregular or regular basis, let me know. I’m willing to swap with folks. MDRader@aol.com.
Josh, best of luck in all your future endeavors.
Josh, thanks to you for the CDMOM. I could only participate once myself because I was so busy – I can only imagine what you must have gone through to keep it alive. I hope you’ll continue to share what you’ve been listening to on this Web site.