Forget the vinyl & cassette boom: Mark Ronson is reviving the 8-track cartridge (and Mini-disc too!)

I think the only person that would want one is someone that never heard or experienced one back in the day. It was a convenience item only, not an even decent delivery system for audio unless listening to a comedy. Very retro, but a terrible system. At least the other formats had the potential for very good, or better, audio. No reason for 8 track to exist now. But hey, I'm very happy for those that enjoy it. I remember the thrill of vinyl returning, so I get it.

 

I'm waiting for Ariana Grande's "Thank U, Next" on wax cylinder

 

All these retro formats where great at the time and served a massive purpose, for that time.

Cassettes where portable, a design classic. Now would sound worse than the lowest bitrate MP3 file

8-Track, again portable, used mostly in American cars? But a lot of waiting for your favourite track to come around on a certain programme. Again, a low bit-rate MP3 would sound better

MiniDisc - portable digital, where spinning a CD was a massive grind on battery life on an CD Walkman, this worked really well and gave you really great copies of digital music. But "dubbing" in real time these days, would anyone want to make a real time copy of a 60 minute CD that takes 60 minutes to do, or just rip in 5 minutes and put on a memory card

These formats are cute and nostalgic, but crap in quality.

 

I do too. I never thought I'd buy cassettes again and got rid of almost all that I had. Some really good ones. About six months ago I got a near perfect condition Denon cassette deck for £5. I've been enjoying using it a lot, am very surprised at how good tapes can sound and love picking up cheap tapes. I have a good little collection now.

 

Some of the higher quality Maxell and TDK mix-tapes I made back in the 80s still sound good today.

 

I can imagine they do. Well recorded and well cared for quality cassettes last a surprisingly long time. They don't seem to deteriorate by themselves, at least not for a very long time.

 

I'm sure Crossley will come out with one soon.

 

Did he find a cure for "Part One" … CLICK! … "Part Two?"

 

Haha! I hope not, while I like cassettes, even those were far from perfect, so 8 tracks don’t really seem to have any redeeming qualities

 

Funny you should say that...

https://www.vulcanrecords.com

 

I was "Born In The Fifties" and I never owned an eight-track. I could get all the good music via WLS etc. I had everything known to humankind on LP and my buddies had the eight-tracks. When I bought my first cassette deck, a bad ass JVC sen alloy head, all my friends had me record LPs for them and ditched most of their eights. How many people have eight-track players at home? Any in cars period? Maybe the last living Elvis chauffeur?

You're killing me! Did he run over your dog!?

 

C

Cassettes can sound incredible! Nice analogue sound. Trick is recording your own on a great deck and the right blank tapes. And insult to cassettes to mention those in the same sentence with 8 tracks. Pre-recorded cassettes....another thing entirely. Very hit and miss, there were some good hits! This trend is really a shame, but as cassettes were dropping in sales many record companies really stepped up the quality, so people who are collecting should try and get later releases. And the same thing with vinyl: pressings improved greatly at the end of the format cycle (90’s). Those record company clowns always waited too long to try and rescue a dying format.

 

Minus the tape counter and fast-forward.

 

Listening to this on Spotify and this is excellent -- the female artists all bring something unique to the proceedings.

here's the latest single released with indie darling Angel Olsen:

 

Not their last one, actually, but the last one with Bun E., The Latest. Been 10 years since that was released, believe it or not, and three albums ago!

 

8 tracks were all we really had for portability in the 60s and 70s, cassette originally was far worse than 8-track and it wasn't till the late 70s that cassette really came into its own. 8 track can also sound rather good, not audiophile, but blasting a quality tape out of a good well calibrated player can yield surprisingly good results.

I still listen to them and dub to them on occasion. I don't use cassette anymore, the tape is too thin and reel gives better results imo. 8 track is essentially the same as 3.75 reel, with the compromise of a narrower head. I have about 15 well calibrated players and even pushing half a century, they still kick behind.

 

This is a colossally embarrassing development. This is what happens when allow Cassette Store Day to be "a thing".

 

It exists... 5 copies
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3AuhPp1C99TRKx56A

 

Dead Media Tapes

Dead Media Tapes. Been releasing and manufacturing 8 tracks since mid 00s.
Dead Media Tapes

 

Cool! R2R is truly making a comeback. Just hope it's 7.5ips and not 3.75.

 

What sounds better 8 Track or MP3?

 

How about a reissue of the original draaiorgel book (see first seconds) for Hey Jude. This is the edit where they cut all the nah-nah nonsense

 

I can remember seeing them in the shops when I started buying records in 1973. I don’t think I knew what they were!

 

We need some Rap 8 tracks, and let us begin with the 2Live Crew, and "We Want Some Ker-Chunk" Or "Pop That Ker-Chunk".

 

I’ve been listening to Sony‘s 16 track sampler ( on my Sony JB930 QS) MD Disc Your Life pretty good mix of funk n soul. Guess this was a demo presentation MD.
No official Beatles albums ever got the MD treatment..always think that was one of the reasons the format didn’t take of. And pre recorded MD albums were expensive.

Disc Your Life : Sony (1996).
Inside booklet there’s a couple of MD players look like high end Sony MD players.