Remembering,the,8-Track,Tape,T technology Remembering the 8-Track Tape

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The 8-track or Stereo 8 Cartridge maintained a level ofpopularity for about two decades, and is a format that is still recognizabletoday, even if it has fallen out of practical application. From the mid 60suntil the early 80s it brought portable, affordable sound to millions.I know there are many people out there who are too young toknow much about the 8-track. So for a quick introduction let me say that an8-track tape never ended. It had four programs but there was no side one orside two like a record. Instead, the tape was an endless loop – each end of thetape was joined together by a metal foil splice. As that metal foil passed overa sensor in the 8-track machine, the program would automatically switch to thenext. The four programs of an 8-track tape were generally 11 ½ minutes inlength for a total time of 46 minutes. Longer durations became available asblank media.Inventing the 8-Track CartridgeEndless loop tape cartridges had been in use since they wereinvented in 1952 by Bernard Cousino. A few years and a few advancements later,an entrepreneur named Earl Muntz marketed what he called the “Stereo-Pak”(a.k.a. 4-track cartridge). This was his version of the endless loop cartridgefor car stereo systems. Bill Lear followed this up by doubling the number oftracks on the tape, and dubbed it the “Stereo 8” which was more commonly knownas the 8-track tape.For a few years, there was a format war between the 8-trackand 4-track cartridges. Stereo-Paks offered slightly better sound quality becausethe tapes only had four tracks as opposed to eight on the same amount of tape.The four-track also mimicked the original music release format (long playingrecords) better, while the 8-track often had to have the play list reorganizedto avoid long silences between songs. Also to avoid silence, sometimes bonustracks or guitar/piano solos were added between songs. Some cartridges even hada song repeated elsewhere on the tape. Even worse though, songs were sometimesbroken into two parts. While listening to a song, about halfway through, youwould hear the song fade out, then the “ka-chunk” sound of the player switchingprograms, and then the song fading in again to finish its duration. Other timesthough, you just had to put up with some silence.8-Tracks in the MarketStereo 8 began its life as an automotive format. InSeptember of 1965, the Ford Motor company announced the 8-track player upgradeto its major models. That partnership catapulted the 8-track format head andshoulders above its competition. The Stereo 8 format grew in popularity andbecame a big seller. As demand for the new format grew, 8-track home stereosystems started to be manufactured. Eventually one would see car stereos,portable stereos, and home stereo systems for it everywhere. But unlike thecassette, the 8-track never outsold record albums.Poor Design and Demise of the 8-Track TapeFor a while, the convenience and portability of the 8-trackplayer overshadowed the mechanical problems of both the players and tapes. However,there were looming threats to the success of the 8-track on the horizon –namely the cassette tape and increased problems with the tape decks and theaging cartridges themselves.There were no quality control standards in place to maintaina certain level of acceptable failure with the format and more and more,8-track owners found that the players needed to be serviced regularly.Plus, Stereo 8 tape decks weren’t the most convenient around– especially by today’s standards. Rewind wasn’t possible because of the designof the endless loop cartridge. Even fast forward wasn’t available on manymachines and it was always a bit of a risk to fast forward anyway. Bothreel-to-reel and cassettes were capable of these “great engineeringachievements,” and like 8-tracks, cassettes were portable. The Stereo 8 playershad numerous issues, but let’s take a look at the cartridge itself.Because the tape was an endless loop there had to be asplice holding the tape together. With continued use (and time) it would eventuallycome apart causing the tape to become lost inside the cartridge or eaten by thetape deck. Eight-track cartridges have what is called a pinch roller in them tohelp with the forward movement of the tape. These pinch rollers were a greatsource of fear to many owners of Stereo 8 tape machines. As the rubber of somepinch rollers aged and decayed, a gooey substance was created that made a messof the tape decks. One last problem worth mentioning is that because of thedesign of the endless loop, tension would build up causing the tape to stopand/or break. This is because the speed of the tape coming out of the center ofthe reel was not quite the same as the tape returning to the outer edge of thereel. The longer a tape was - the greater the chance of tension buildup up anddamage occurring.The problems with the tapes and tape players, in conjunctionwith the efforts of record companies to limit the number of formats, led to theeventual decline of the 8-track medium. When sales of the 8-track started todecrease, the major music labels were quick to drop the format. Compactcassette (standard cassette) tapes were beginning to gain momentum in themarket, which gave the music business even less incentive to allow the 8-trackany more life.Gone, but Not ForgottenAlthoughthe 8-track format was less common in the early eighties among home andportable users, the format hung on to life through record clubs – “Get 12 tapesfor 1¢” – until the late eighties. Sincethen the 8-track has been synonymous with just about anything becomingobsolete. When trying to impress on somebody the obsolescence of something – just mentioningthe 8-track always seems to do the job.