# why did anybody with a brain want an 8-track tape player ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 11, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760 "2008-12-11T20:23:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/61 "2008-12-13T02:56:46Z")
> [@eldowan](#): > > The .1 refers to the bass put out by the 8th speaker. It is referred to as .1 because it is much easier for a (sub)woofer to make a sound that appears to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, whereas regular fullrange speakers (and especially tweeters) make higher pitched sounds that are easier to pinpoint their location based only on hearing. > > You can read more about the effect, LFE, here: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-frequency\_effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-frequency_effect) Oh ok, that makes some sense. Though I would have just called it another channel…so in my world the knob still goes to 11 I guess. IS there much “modern/common” stuff these days that is recorded as anything other than straight stereo though? That was my impression of the cause of the demise the original quadrophonic. First it cut tape capacity in half, and there wasnt an excess of capacity to start with. The second appeared to be that there really wasnt much that was recorded properly as quad in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/62 "2008-12-13T15:26:24Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > I wonder if it wasn’t a competetive marketing thing like Beta/VHS or DVD/Bluray or Mac/PC? There was a whole lot of competition at the time between 8-track and cassettes. I remember reading endless articles and reviews before buying my 8-track unit, because of the superior sound quality. The problem is that in the following years, cassette technology constantly improved, while 8-track technology remained basically unchanged. But at one point, around '73, I remember having a combo 8-track/cassette/AM/FM portable unit. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/63 "2008-12-13T16:37:07Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Hell, I owned a **4 track** player! With the hole in the bottom of the tape cartridge where the drive wheel went. Match that! Did you get it from Earl “Madman” Muntz? ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/64 "2008-12-13T18:31:58Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Mass marketing? I wasn’t aware of cassette tapes before 8-tracks. New cars had 8-track players. The Cassette replaced 8 tracks. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/65 "2008-12-13T18:58:09Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > The Cassette replaced 8 tracks. Cassettes existed before the 8-Track, but only as a dictation medium. High-quality audio from a cassette didn’t exist until Dolby noise reduction. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/66 "2008-12-13T19:37:40Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > IS there much “modern/common” stuff these days that is recorded as anything other than straight stereo though? Sure! The music soundtracks on most movies are mixed in surround. Surround music didn’t catch on with the masses who seem perfectly happy with their MP3 players, and didn’t catch on with “audiophiles” who seem content with stereo. But there is quite a bit of surround music, and you can discuss it [here](http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/67 "2008-12-13T20:00:56Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > IS there much “modern/common” stuff these days that is recorded as anything other than straight stereo though? I think by “recorded” you meant “released to consumers”, but just in case you didn’t know this, almost all music since the 1960’s has been recorded to multi-track tape or computer file, then mixed down to whatever number of tracks desired for commercial release, usually a stereo pair. Which means if some other format ever became popular (3 channels? 5?), the original, multitrack masters could be re-mixed into that new format with no loss, and possibly enhancement. This is not possible with material recorded prior to ca. 1950, although some tricks can be used to simulate multi-tracking. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/68 "2008-12-14T01:04:39Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Cassettes existed before the 8-Track, but only as a dictation medium. High-quality audio from a cassette didn’t exist until Dolby noise reduction. Oh, sure. I got a cassette recorder for Christmas one year and spent the rest of the holiday hanging the microphone down over our TV set’s speaker to record the shows. Hopefully no youngsters here will think anyone meant cassette tapes did not exist before 8-tracks. It’s just that as a music medium, in which you bought a tape to listen to music like you did for 8-tracks instead of using it to record goofy stuff on, such cassettes did not exist before 8-tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/69 "2008-12-14T02:17:57Z")
Also, IIRC, the first cassettes were mono. When stereo was proposed for cassettes, wise heads prevailed, and unlike open reel tape formats, both stereo tracks were placed so that older equipment could play both as combined mono, preserving compatability. This required smaller heads but made hifi stereo possible in an otherwise lo-fi mono medium. This has got to be one of the world’s best techological decisions ever. ---
**Author:** ![jhinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/779978/32.png) [@jhinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jhinman)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/70 "2008-12-14T03:12:04Z")
Ah [Mr Lear](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lear), your [8 track](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_cartridge) may not be the status symbol it once was but at least your other brain child has, um, [taken off](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learjet_23). I did not know this until I looked up 8-track after reading this thread ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/71 "2008-12-14T08:59:04Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > There were no commercially available high fidelity cassette players once upon a time. I first remember decent car cassette players coming into play in the late 70s. Before that if you wanted to buy something that actually sounded good then 8 track was the way to go. The tape speed was faster and produced much better results, until tape technology improved. BINGO! As an owner of both home and auto 8-tracks. Until Dolby (remember Dolby ™? He was the brilliant audio engineer who figured out how to get a 1/16" strip of tape (one channel on a cassette) to produce a credible sound. Before Dolby 1.0, casettes were CRAP! Are 8 tracks still used for radio commercials? Just pop the pre-qued cart into the deck - in 1979-1981 I worked with a fellow who volunteered with the local NPR - he had a DJ’s deck on his deck. Impressive thing - build like a tank (a real one, not these “passive armour” pieces of crap). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/72 "2008-12-14T09:42:24Z")
Believe it or not, some independent artists have occasionally released their albums on 8 track in recent years. [8 Track Heaven](http://www.8trackheaven.com/longlive.html) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/73 "2008-12-14T16:34:40Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > As an owner of both home and auto 8-tracks. > Until Dolby (remember Dolby ™? He was the brilliant audio engineer who figured out how to get a 1/16" strip of tape (one channel on a cassette) to produce a credible sound. Before Dolby 1.0, casettes were CRAP! While Ray Dolby’s contributions to sound were important, there were other incremental improvements to cassette recorder/players that overwhelmed his noise reduction invention and made it less necessary. AFAIK, commercial cassette releases were never Dolby-B encoded. I have been thru several generations of auto cassette players, and they didn’t have any Dolby circuitry, so when I recorded cassettes for car use, I never used Dolby. The very best cassette recorders ever developed were so good that Dolby wasn’t really needed unless you were a purist, and if you were a purist, why are you using cassettes instead of open-reels? > [@](#): > > Are 8 tracks still used for radio commercials? Just pop the pre-qued cart into the deck - in 1979-1981 I worked with a fellow who volunteered with the local NPR - he had a DJ’s deck on his deck. Impressive thing - build like a tank (a real one, not these “passive armour” pieces of crap). I remember the radio station carousels – refrigerator-sized devices with a large rotating, multiple-cart changing mechanism. The endless-loop design of 8 tracks was ideal for this use – as soon as a song or commercial played, it was back to the beginning and ready to play again without rewinding. One radio station I visited had three of these machines and you could sit there and watch the scheduling as it activated each in sequence for a totally automated station. While #1 was playing, #2 was positioning the next cart. When #1 finished a song or commercial, it transferred control to #2. I doubt that those are used today. The AM/FM stations I am familiar with are entirely computer-file based for all sounds: commercials or songs. For instant world or national news, they get a live (or nearly live) audio feed thru the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/74 "2008-12-14T16:53:50Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Oh yeah, a book of matches jammed under one side to keep the pressure on certain tapes was a must: almost synonymous with the quarter taped to the tone arm on your record player. What do you think was the source of the ‘1.4 grams’ in the OP? 😃 It’s one thing to look at a ‘release date’ for a technology (cassettes) and wonder why something wasn’t popular (8-tracks) My parents bought a cassette recorder in 73 or 74 to make tapes of me babbling to the grandparents, I ALSO remember having an 8-track player in a couple of our cars (AMC Eagle, word!) I _also_ had the Star Wars soundtrack (78 or 79) on 8-track and was seriously pissed that the player jumped from track 1 to track 2 in the middle of the cantina song. We really didn’t have any _portable_ or _car_ cassette players until later…We didn’t ever put after market radios in our cars, and the Auto manufacturers were REALLY late to the game incorporating technologies like digital tuning, graphic equalizers, CRO2 tapes and Dolby noise reduction. ---
**Author:** ![stanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@stanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stanger)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/75 "2008-12-14T18:43:58Z")
Some 8-tracks had the songs laid out on the tracks so that they played normally, though out of order from the record album. More than a few had to change tracks in the middle of a song, so the song would slowly fade out, the track would change, and the song would fade back in. In most cases the song would be backed up a bit so that you didn’t miss any of the song at regular volume. I had a Beatles 8-track that had one song that was just a bit too long to fit on the track, but there was no room to move it anywhere else. About half-way through the song, you could tell that it was speeding up a bit, trying to get the song to the end before the track ended. By the end of the song, it sounded like the Chipmonks were doing the song. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760/76 "2008-12-15T09:31:34Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Are 8 tracks still used for radio commercials? Just pop the pre-qued cart into the deck - I don’t believe 8 tracks were ever used in radio (either for spots or music). It wouldn’t make any sense to use something with 8 tracks when you are only broadcasting 2 tracks. However, the 1/4 inch, 7.5 IPS, 2-tracked stereo (originally mono only) NAB carts that _were_ once used in radio (up until maybe 15 years ago) did superficially resemble consumer 8-track tapes and they both were continuous tape loops, but the radio carts had only one “program” while 8-tracks had four. Technically, I suppose you could say the NAB carts had a “third” track, but that was just a tiny low, low, low-fi cue track consisting only of a signal tone that would automatically stop the cart’s tape loop _just_ before the starting point of the programming on the cart. Thus, it never needed to be cued by a DJ/engineer. More time for grass-smoking that way. (Among other things) I used to rebuild and “wind” carts (that is: load with fresh tape stock, splice, and then loop) for a radio station. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-anybody-with-a-brain-want-an-8-track-tape-player/476760.md?page=3)