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Make the mix CD with someone specific in mind, whether this is yourself, someone you like romantically, or just a friend you want to share some music with. Having a clear idea of who the CD is meant for will help you choose the songs. You want the person who listens to this CD to enjoy it, so consider what they already like and include some of that. Additionally, you can take a chance and add songs that you think they will like based on what you know they like. The best mix CDs will have some kind of overall theme that ties the songs together, rather than being a completely random and disconnected set of songs. Common themes might be songs about love or songs for a road trip, but a theme could be starting a new school year, becoming friends, or inspiring music for a workout. Having a theme in mind helps establish the mood you hope the CD achieves and gives you something to aim for in compiling the songs. You might have the theme of "songs for the weekend" in mind, but don't just add a bunch of songs that have "weekend" in the title. A theme is about continuity of the songs' tone and content, not just titles that have words in common. If you are making the CD for a particular person or occasion, it should have a message that the songs all work together to send. The theme gives a general guideline of how the songs should fit together while the message is what you want the mix to actually say. The audience also plays a large part in crafting the message, because you probably don't want a mix for your boyfriend to send the same message as a mix for your grandma.
Determine your audience. Pick a theme. Make the message clear.