I ripped the songs from various sources onto my computer, arranged the songs, and divided up into two playlists, one for each side. Then I used a cable that I have for recording from my guitar to my computer's input. It has a 1/8" plug on one side and a 1/4" on the other. I simply reversed the usual set-up and plugged the 1/8" into the headphone jack on my computer and the 1/4" into the stereo microphone jack of my Harman/Kardon hk200xm tape deck from the early 80's and recorded directly from the computer to the tape deck.It took a while to balance it out right so that it sounded half-way decent. The quality is still kind of blah, but I kind of like it like that, it gives it that DIY feel to it and emphasizes that this is something I worked hard on making myself.
I just didn't think that a mix CD has the same oomph as an actual tape. Anybody can throw songs on a CD. It takes more thought and time and love into making a tape.