'Mixture of Jane's trendy records!!!': discover readers' cherished mixtapes

Following the death of Lou Ottens, creator of the cassette tape, Guardian readers share the romances, friendships and discoveries his invention generated

In 1992 I started a degree in civil engineering at the University of Surrey. I had no idea until the day I arrived that I would be sharing a room with Carol, also a civil engineering student. We had very different tastes in music. I loved the Cure and Led Zeppelin and Carol loved dance music. We created a mixtape of songs that we both liked - no mean feat, but we had to do something as I kept playing 29 Palms by Robert Plant and it drove Carol mad.