The romanticization of the olden days-practice of making a mixtape for someone you like might be considered a “slow meme.” It never takes the internet by storm, but it’s consistently mentioned — usually in the context of apps that purports to let people make mixes for each other.
Shared playlists are great, as are sites like 8tracks that let people make mixes for each other — but neither evolves the basic premise of using a meaningful sequence of meaningful songs to romance someone.
Fliptape, an iOS app that lets people listen to the same music at the same time on their iOS devices, might make more sense in that regard. Instead of making a playlist for someone (although Fliptape lets you do that too), you can actually listen to the same music as the other person, at the same time, even if you’re not together. Using Fliptape requires setting up at least a simple profile. Once you do, anyone else with the app installed can come to your page, and see your playlists.
That’s no different from Spotify (and, in fact, you can listen to your Spotify playlists within the app). What is different, and makes this app so interesting, is that if you’re using it to play music, your profile page gets a little Play button at the upper right. Anyone who taps that can listen along to what you’re listening to, at the same time.
“Fliptape is smilar to Soundrop in that it facilites real-time listening for a group of Spotify users,” said Beaty via email. “The difference is that Soundrop provides genre-specific rooms where users vote on music to listen to together. Fliptape allows Spotify users to listen to music as they usually would, but with the possibility of friends and family dropping in alongside them. I see Soundrop as a Spotify-powered Turntable.fm experience. Fliptape provides a new kind of experience that is simply an enhancement of people’s existing listening habits.”
To use Fliptape, first make sure you have Spotify Premium. Then, simply install the app and log in with your Facebook or Spotify credentials, and set up a simple profile page. As the included tutorial explains, you can then search for people to follow within the app, browse people’s playlists, listen to your own Spotify playlists, and — our favorite feature — listen along with any other user who’s playing tunes within the app.
If you like someone, and they use Spotify, you might send them this link and your Fliptape username, and let the fates take it from there.