What to Write on a Custom Cassette or CD Insert

Most people spend a lot of time picking the songs. They go back and forth over the order, second-guess whether a certain track is too obvious or not obvious enough, wonder if the ending is strong. And then, when it comes to the insert — the little card that goes inside the case, the thing the other person will hold in their hands before they even press play — they freeze.

It makes sense. The insert is where you have to actually say something. The songs can do a lot of the emotional work, but the writing on the insert is where you speak directly, in your own words, without the cover of music to soften it. That's both what makes it hard and what makes it matter.

Here's what's worth putting on it.

A title that earns its place

The mixtape needs a name. Not just a label — a real title, one that means something to the person receiving it. This is harder than it sounds. The temptation is to go vague ("Songs for You") or overly clever, and both tend to fall flat.

The best mixtape titles come from somewhere specific: a phrase from a conversation you had, a lyric that captures the feeling you were going for, a private joke that only makes sense to the two of you, or something as simple as a season and a year. Summer, 2019. That kind of specificity does more work than you'd expect. It places the mixtape in time and says: this was made then, for you, on purpose.

If nothing is coming to you, try starting with how you want the person to feel when they look at it six years from now. Work backward from that.

A dedication

Even just one line. Even just their name and yours.

A dedication gives the insert a direction — it tells the cassette or CD who it belongs to. It doesn't have to be elaborate. Some of the most affecting dedications are almost embarrassingly simple: For A., who always knew what song to put on. Or just a date and a place. A sentence doesn't need to be long to be felt.

If you're making this for a romantic partner, a close friend, a parent, or anyone where the relationship itself carries weight, the dedication is where you can say the thing you might not say out loud. The mixtape creates enough emotional distance that it becomes possible to be direct in a way that doesn't feel too exposed. Use that.

The tracklist

Write the songs out. Every one of them. Even if the person already knows what's on it.

The tracklist on a physical insert is different from a playlist on a screen — it's something to be read, not scrolled. People hold it and read it the way they'd read a letter. They look at the order. They notice which song you put first and which one you saved for last. They see a title they recognize and remember where they were the first time they heard it.

How much to write beyond the song titles is a matter of taste. Some people include just the title and artist, clean and spare. Others add a small note next to certain tracks — nothing more than a few words, like a private caption. This one's for the drive back. This one I almost didn't include. That kind of annotation turns a tracklist into something closer to a conversation.

Don't overthink the formatting. Handwritten feels warmer if you have the space. Typed and printed is fine too. What matters is that it's there, on paper, readable.

The date

Put a date on it. Month and year at minimum.

This is something people often skip, and almost always wish they hadn't. The date is what turns a mixtape into a document. Ten years from now, when someone finds this in a drawer, the date is what lets them place it — what was happening then, who they were, what the world felt like. Without it, the insert is just a list of songs. With it, it's a record of a moment.

You don't need to make a ceremony of it. Just put it somewhere — the back, the bottom corner, tucked under your name. It doesn't need to be explained.

Something in your own words

This is optional, but worth attempting: a few sentences that are simply yours. Not a quote from a song or a poet, not a caption — just something you actually want to say. Why you made this. What you hope they feel when they listen. Something you noticed about them that made you choose a particular song.

It doesn't have to be beautiful. It just has to be true. The person reading it will know the difference.

If you find yourself borrowing someone else's words because yours don't feel good enough, try writing it badly first. Get the thought down without worrying about how it sounds. Most of the time, the bad version is closer to what you actually mean than the polished one.

The insert is part of the gift

The songs are the heart of a mixtape, but the insert is the face — it's the first thing they see, the thing they come back to between listens, the part they keep long after the tape itself might have worn out.

Writing it well isn't about being eloquent. It's about being present. About putting enough of yourself on that small piece of paper that the person holding it knows you were thinking about them when you made it.

If you're ready to put something real into someone's hands, start creating your own mixtape — and don't skip the insert.