A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from July 23 to July 29.

Monday, July 23

• 3D Printing Industry Will Reach $3 Billion by 2018 – Report

Friday, July 27

• Afinia Targets Consumer Market with New 3D Printer Priced at $1499
• Organovo 3D Printing: Bold Mission But Needs Cash, May Offer Secondary

MakerBot is well known for its affordable consumer 3D printers. Now the company is branching out into consumer entertainment products with its new MixTape – buy it or print it.

From the MakerBot website:

A long time ago, before Pandora or RDIO or even ancient technologies like iTunes, there was the mixtape — a carefully selected group of songs, organized into a playlist and recorded onto a cassette. You had to get these songs from other tapes or even record them from the radio. You had to have a machine that allowed for transferring songs from one tape to another tape. The whole process took planning… and patience. But the payoff was oh so sweet.

The MakerBot Applications team, our division of makers and designers, have figured out a way to bring this magic back to life — with a modern twist — and make it 3D-printed, too.

If you own a MakerBot printer, the unassembled “print your own” version sells for $25. Or you can buy an assembled MixTape for $39.

CNET reviewed the device.

The actual specs of the MixTape MP3 player are modest. It has 2GB of storage capacity, and a 4-hour lithium-ion battery that charges when you connect it to your Mac or PC via the included USB cable. The MixTape also conveniently functions as a standard thumb drive.

MakerBot produced the video below to showcase the nostalgia and romance of the MixTape product.