So here’s what I’ve decided to do.

I’m going to have another mix CD exchange, same as always. I won’t impose any set themes or music restrictions. I won’t limit the number of participants. What I will do, however, is split the exchanges up into smaller concurrent groups — so that, if we have a group of ten, five people will share CDs among themselves while five other people do the same separately, simultaneously.

The split will be more or less random. If you would like to receive more than five mixes, you are free to participate in more than one group. If need be, I will fiddle with the randomness of the split to ensure that no one gets the same mix CD twice.

Please take this time to let me know if you would like to participate. If you would like to suggest another participant, or share the idea with a friend, please do so. They may contact me directly, if they would like. If you will be sending multiple CDs — and, more importantly, if you only wish to receive one copy of the other mixes in return — please let me know that, too. (For the married couples who wish to participate, this means you.)

I think I can manage to scrounge together at least ten people, including myself, to participate. This will mean at least two groups of five. Since I would like the groups to be more or less even, the final number of discs will depend on the final number of participants. I may ask everyone for six CDs, or I may ask for four, depending on that final number and the division involved. I will not, however, ask for any more or fewer than that. Please keep that in mind when deciding if you want to play: if you’re in one group, that’s 4-6 discs; if you’re in two, that’s 8-12; and so on.

Please send me your answer and details no later than Friday, January 20. That’s one week from this coming Friday. I need a yes or no. I need to know how many discs you’re sending and want to get back. And I need to know how many groups you want to be in.

Once I hear from everyone and have a final number of participants, I will break that number into the smaller subgroups. I may keep secret whose mixes you’re receiving, but after the fact I will be happy to work out one-for-one exchanges for any CDs you didn’t get. (I expect to participate in more than one group myself, and as the go-between I’ll have an opportunity to sneak a listen to all the CDs.) You may not get a CD you wanted, or you may not get to share with someone whose musical tastes you like. But hopefully you’ll be able to figure out what you missed (and snag a copy) from reading the discussion posts on my weblog after the exchange.

I hope this doesn’t sound half as complicated as it looks. I think this should solve the problem some of you have had with the past exchanges — namely, that there’s simply too much music being shared — while not shutting out those of you who didn’t care, or who want all of those mix CDs. This way, you should be able to get a lot, or only a few. Logistically, it’s a little more complicated…but probably only for me. For everyone else, the rules are the same: make your mix, burn copies of your mix, send me your copies and money for postage, and I send you copies of other mixes in exchange.

Sound good? Not too complicated? I didn’t lose any of you a few paragraphs back, did I? Okay, then. I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.