John Cusack, as Rob Gordon in “High Fidelity,” came up with some rules for putting together a proper mixtape. Just as well, since you are using someone else’s work to express your own feelings. Such is the case with coming up with a web application that facilitates the creation and distribution of your own mixtape online. The two that come to mind immediately are Muxtape and Mixwit. I’ll attempt to compare the two services (you know, before the RIAA does something about them) and let you draw your own conclusions about which is right for you (by providing my own biased opinion at the end).

User Registration
Muxtape asks you for three pieces of information: username (to be used as your muxtape.com subdomain), password and email address. Pretty simple and straightforward. Not to be outdone, Mixwit only asks for an email address and a password, and will derive your username from the supplied email address. This is fine, since you can always change your username to be different from your email address, but that’s one extra step to take.

One thing to note from both services is that you are not explicitly asked to acknowledge any Terms and Conditions for the site. Both provide a link to their terms in their footers, and only Muxtape makes that link available on the registration page as well (albeit in small, light grey type). Just an observation. I’m sure I’m missing something important here.

Visual Design and User Interface
Muxtape takes a minimalistic approach to visual design: mostly black text on white background, with only a couple of images (the clear cassette and the RSS icon). Oh yeah, and they don’t have a logo. Mixwit, on the other hand, does.

The minimalist approach extends beyond visual design; Muxtape uses simple AJAX functionality to upload, rearrange and play tracks, separating the act of supplying content from customizing the cassette. Mixwit uses Flex technology to select from a library of tracks (or point to a URL of a track), apply styles to the cassette, and publish a finished mixtape, all through a three-step wizard process.

Both sites allow users to customize the look and feel of their mixtapes, to some degree. Muxtape only allows you to change nothing more than the background color of the header, but Mixwit takes a more playful approach to the mixtape by employing different cassette skins, bringing you back to the good ol’ days. You can even use your own image as the skin, if you so choose. The site even uses a handwriting-style font for your cassette, and allows you to justify the text anyway you want.

Song Selection and Capacity
Muxtape and Mixwit take different approaches to how songs are added. Neither has its own music library from which to choose; however, while Mixwit lets you find songs on either SeeqPod or SkreemR (or point to a custom URL of an MP3), Muxtape asks you to upload the songs you want from your own personal library. In addition, Muxtape forces you to select songs from 12 separate artists, and each song must not exceed 10MB, for one and only one mixtape, whereas Mixwit lets you add as many songs as you like to any number of mixtapes you wish to create.

Now, there are advantages and disadvantages to either approach. If you want to create a mixtape with your own songs to convey a special message, a la Rob Gordon, and you actually have the songs you want to use, then uploading tracks to Muxtape isn’t so bad. It makes more sense if you want to use less popular or older songs that you can’t find on SeeqPod or SkreemR. Plus, because the files are being stored in a reliable place — Amazon S3 — then you know those songs are always going to be available for playback. However, if those points don’t apply, then Mixwit is probably the right choice for you.

Sharing/Distribution
Earlier, I mentioned that your Muxtape has its own subdomain, based on the username you supplied during registration. That makes sharing my Muxtape much easier than sharing a Mixwit mixtape, since the latter is addressable only by using a unique, complicated, 24-character hexadecimal identifier.

If you’re trying to find a mixtape that contains songs from artists or albums you like, then Mixwit has got you covered through their search feature. No such feature exists on Muxtape, but I also think this is intentionally done. Rob Gordon made mixtapes for audiences of one, customized for their own personal tastes and feelings. They were never intended for other people. Same goes for the Muxtape; you won’t know the URL to mine unless I tell you (which I’ve already broadcasted, but that’s beside the point).

Conclusion
A mixtape website isn’t that hard to do if you keep things very simple, like Muxtape does. The act of finding the right songs and arranging them in a logical order should be the hard part; compiling the finished product shouldn’t be.