Be Smart

For anyone who grew up in the 80s or early 90s, mix tapes were an essential part of pop culture. Whole evenings were devoted to the practice of creating the perfect mix tape (and learning to apply liquid eyeliner) and we would make them for parties, for our walkmans and for our friends. What's more, if a potential love-interest surprised you with a mix tape, it was as close to a confession of undying love as a teenage boy was capable of. (Unfortunately, the only teenage boys who were that romantic existed in Hollywood screenwriters' heads. But never mind.)

Mix tapes were soon superseded by burning CDs and making iPod playlists, but neither has the same amount of romance and nostalgia. Which is why I was delighted to hear about a new application called Muxtape, which lets you create your very own mix tape, online.

You sign up for free and then upload up to 12 songs from your hard drive to create your perfect (virtual) tape. The upload process takes a little while, and the site only works with MP3s at the moment but it's much easier than the days of painstakingly rewinding and recording, and hopefully it will accept WMA files soon.