These tapes consist of different kinds of compilations including your favorite tunes. They can also be compiled to reflect a certain concept in music and also to reflect definite themes and moods.

Mixtapes, according to Geoffrey Obrien, who is an essayist, are a widely practiced American art form. Enthusiastic creators of such tapes also are of the belief that these are artistic, especially if they have been carefully selected and also ordered in a particular manner. When such a tape is properly mixed together it can create a musical experience that is greater than the sum of all its individual tunes.

When the Beatles era came to a close, a new one began in which pop music albums began to be sold which were different because they held many individual songs that were recorded and compiled together in the same manner as a mixed tape was recorded before these albums came out.

However, this era too passed by as digital audio which was more affordable offered a more exciting mix of music that was stored on compact discs as well as in MP3 formats. Even despite these later inventions, the term mixed tape continues to refer to audio cassettes. That is not to say that this term excludes the CD, MP3 and the minidisc; it is just that the concept is very closely related to the audio tape and so most people continue to associate it with the audio cassette.

The earliest versions of these tapes came out during the latter part of the sixties and continued till the eighties and these were readily available in flea markets and also in truck stores and the earliest versions were eight track bootleg tapes.