What's so bad about 8 track tapes?

Oooh. Gotta find this one!

 

IIRC, I read here that one of the music clubs produced the last 8-track, of Fleetwood Mac's Greatest hits.

 

Re the two big reels, look up Elcaset. That format came later in the mid/late 1970's but only lasted a couple years. The "cassettes" were about the same size as an 8 track cartridge and they both used 1/4" tape @ 3.5 IPS. As a matter of fact, I read recently that once Elcaset production stopped, most of the global surplus wound up in Finland.

As was pointed out, 8 track tapes were expensive to make. When they sold side by side with vinyl LP's, they were about $2 more than a record so manufacturers shifted marketing strategy towards the cassette. I believe marketing as opposed to merit has a lot to do with format survival. The best known example was Beta vs VHS. Technically, Beta was superior but the fact that running time of a VHS tape was longer than a Beta was seized upon and promoted.

 

Sometimes the new track running order is superior than the LP counterpart.

Another thing.
I really think that the younger generations have a more fond memory of them, or their own version of history from them. The death and everyone's complaints regarding 8-tracks are the very same reason they developed the compact disc. You all progressed, bought, and believed in the convenience and "superior" sound quality of digital media. We were born into it, molded by it... (Jk). Most people buy into this illusion sold to us via streaming. Some people like the history, the way things were, as their own thing entirely. Sure I could boot up YouTube (which was just autocorrected for me), search Love Gun, and hear it anywhere and anytime. But does it have that same raw sound from that comes from my speakers when I slam the cartridge in the player? Will Christine Sixteen fade out and fade back in? Play for a second time later in the track running? Will I be able to understand how things were for just a little bit, between ads for coors light and other They Live themed BS ads? No probably not. So when I'm working out, and I want that little something that will give me that spark, that little boost of energy, I'll reach for that stained white cartridge, and rock out that way it should be heard.

 

On a limited edition 8 track, a special audio message from Jimmy Page just following "Four Sticks", on track three:
"Hi, I'm Jimmy Page, Thank you for buying Led Zeppelin IV on 8 track. We, the members of the band truly appreciate your support. As a token of your loyalty, we are offering a 'Zoso' T shirt to the first 500 callers who call the 800 number printed on the back label. (Ka KLUNK) The back is embroidered 'Get the Led Out on 8 track'. As a bonus, the first 50 callers receive a free lifetime fan club membership, and a Limited Edition Led Zeppelin Cart-O-matic 8 track player, compliments from me, Jimmy Page.

 

That's it in a nutshell.

 

I still buy vinyl (of course). I still buy cassettes. I still love and record to reel to reel. I still buy CDs and sometimes record to CD-R. I record to high-res digital, routinely.

...pregnant pause...

8-track is one format (after taking one apart to fix it, the actual tape cartridge that is, not the player) that I have decided not to give another glance. I remember the KA-CHUNK growing up; turned me off completely. I thought I'd investigate further as I got older. After doing so, after studying the inner workings of the cartridge... yeah... just not gonna.

 

People were always stealing the players out of your cars.

 

They were inherently self-destructive.

 

Always the consumer market favors smaller, more convenient, lower cost, acceptable quality vs the superior format of superior sound quality. Marketing/advertising always promote new products with these buzzwords: "new", "advanced technology", "next generation", "smaller", "improved", "easy". Compromises are made as technology permits, ie: slimmer smartphones of visual appeal are not necessarily better functionally. Considerations such as cooler operation, and more robust construction need only be acceptable. I ran over with my car an ugly thick cased flip phone. The ground was soft, so the phone was pushed into the ground, no cracks, no damage. I don't think a Smartphone would've survived that.

 

The Panny RS-858USD is (arguably) the best player of the format. (A few folks like a Wollensak here or an Akai there....). I've restored two.

My take is aside from all the other stuff that's inarguably annoying (cross-talk was a problem, but mainly because of slop in an individual tape's manufacturing and not the format itself) the sound quality is equivalent to 3.75ips open reel at its "best". (Which can be better than most people wish to remember, at least with the right tape on the right machine. Say a Pioneer RT-707 or 909 at 3.75ips....). It's not "bad". It's just nothing to write home about either. The Bass on some of these better tapes (Ampex is one) is surprisingly dynamic. The Treble extension can be surprising as well. Particularly when recording on "good" aftermarket tape. (Maxell was good....) BUT, in the end, the novelty value and nostalgia is its most salient virtue. It's better than most people remember because most of the gear playing it back was wretched. Sadly, that's not enough to change the spots on that particular "leopard". I keep a couple of dozen good tapes with those two machines just to compare different formats of the same recordings. Like the Elcassette, it's an evolutionary offshoot. YMMV.....

 

I'm 60 and have never owned an 8 track. Crap format. Cross talk. Tape stretch. Tapes that eat themselves.

 

If the thread had been "What was good about 8-track tapes?" we woulda been one page and out.

 

Anybody who came of age in the 70's knows why there will be no 8 track revival.

 

its hard to find rock music on 8 track, usually just counry and easy listening music. i know someone who had an 8 track player and it ejected tapes very violently. but it didnt sound to bad

 

Everybody wants to be a critic!

 

I must be lucky, I don't have half of the problems mentioned. If an 8 track has issues, I have foil sensing tape, foam, etc. The biggest problem I've seen with them is when they are played on a ****ty deck and are exposed to extreme heat or cold. Other than that, they are what they are.

 

I did a lot of hitch-hiking in the later 1960s and through the 1970s. By the mid-1970s, almost every place I stood at the side of the road I saw a ribbon of discarded 8-track tape.

 

Cassettes too.

 

Depending on the cartridge your listening to......

I have had some that some like crap but thankfully I have had more THAT SOUND GORGEOUS than anything else!!


What I like about 8 track is: YOUR ALMOST 100% GUARANTEED TO GET ANALOGUE SOURCED MATERIAL! (You cant be sure with cassettes because they are newer,in 1975 the digital era started)

I HAVE HAD MANY CASSETTES THAT SOUND LIKE CRAP.... Thin,etc...... (Most likely digitally sourced) I have had some that sound gorgeous though...

8 tracks are BETTER than cassettes as far as sound quality for the most part..... (If the tape is done right)

That can happen with cassettes also Jack!

 

The Technics RS-858 actually was a good machine back in the day. With proper alignment and good tape, it could make acceptable -- not great -- quad recordings.

 

Back when they were the rage, 8 track players were being stolen right and left. The manufacturers developed a removable "plug in" player/ bracket that you could remove while inside a shopping mall, or at work. The worst part was not having your player stolen, it was the thieves who broke your side window to get at it. The tapes also had to be hidden or locked in the trunk. That's the good ol' 70's.

The risk of theft was so high, I installed my player in the glove box, and kept my 8 track case on the back seat floor, covered up. My passenger was assigned the title of program director, free to play anything on my play list, haha! For more than one passenger, it was a democracy!

Now in the 21st century, one could leave an 8 track on a city sidewalk. The city street sweeper would likely claim it.

 

You must be talking about pre-recorded commercial tapes. No 8-track deck ever, including the handful that could use ferrichrome tapes, could match the recording and playback quality of, for example, my Teac V-970X cassette deck. And there were many cassette decks sold throughout the decades that could give a V-970X a run for its money so that's not an exclusive club.

 

Honestly they never made any high end 8 track tape decks or we might have a different thread here.