8-track tape

For other uses, see Cartridge (disambiguation).

This article is about the eight-track cartridge. For eight-track multitracking, see Multitrack recording.

Magnetic tape sound recording format

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Stereo 8

The inside of a cartridge. The black rubber pinch roller is at upper right.

Media type| Magnetic cartridge tape endless loop
Encoding| Stereo analog signal
Capacity| Four stereo channels
Read mechanism| Tape head
Write mechanism| Magnetic recording head
Developed by| Lear Industries
Usage| Audio storage
Extended from| Fidelipac / Mohawk cartridge[1]

The 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic tape sound recording technology that was popular[2] from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, which pre-dated the 8-track system, surpassed it in popularity for pre-recorded music.[3][4]

The format was most popular in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Japan.[3][4][5] One advantage of the 8-track tape cartridge was that it could play continuously, and did not have to be "flipped over" to play the entire tape. It is now considered to be obsolete.

The Stereo 8 Cartridge was created in 1964 by a consortium led by Bill Lear, of Lear Jet Corporation,[6] along with Ampex, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Motorola, and RCA Victor Records (RCA \- Radio Corporation of America).

It was a further development of the similar Stereo-Pak four-track cartridge, which had been introduced by pioneering businessman and engineer Earl "Madman" Muntz, who promoted and sold consumer electronics in America. Lear had tried to create an endless-loop wire recorder in the 1940s but gave up in 1946, only to be re-inspired by Muntz's four-track design in 1963. Muntz's design had itself been adapted from the Fidelipac cartridge, which in turn had been developed by George Eash.

A four channel quadraphonic version of the format was announced by RCA in April 1970 and called first Quad-8 and later Q8.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 1.1 Development of tape cartridges
* 1.2 Introduction of Stereo 8
* 1.3 Commercial success
* 1.4 Early karaoke machines
* 1.5 Nature and operation
* 1.6 Quad 8 and Q8
* 1.7 Other use
* 1.8 Decline
* 2 See also
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## History[edit]

The original format for magnetic tape sound reproduction was the reel-to-reel tape recorder, first available in the United States in the late 1940s, but too expensive and bulky to be practical for amateur home use until well into the 1950s. Because, in the early years, each tape had to be dubbed from the master tape in real time to maintain good sound quality, pre-recorded tapes were more expensive to manufacture and costlier to buy than vinyl records which could be stamped far more quickly than their own playing time. Loading a reel of tape onto the machine and threading it through the various guides and rollers for playback was more difficult than putting an LP on a record player.[citation needed]

To eliminate the inconvenience of tape-threading, various manufacturers introduced cartridges that held the tape inside a metal or plastic housing, thereby eliminating handling. Most were intended only for low-fidelity voice recording in dictation machines. The first tape cartridge designed for general consumer use, including music reproduction, was the Sound Tape or Magazine Loading Tape Cartridge (RCA tape cartridge), introduced in 1958. Pre-recorded stereophonic music cartridges were available, and blank cartridges could be used to make recordings at home, but the format failed to gain popularity.[citation needed]

### Development of tape cartridges[edit]

A blank 8-track cartridge

Blank cartridges could be used to make recordings at home.

The endless loop tape cartridge was first designed in 1952 by Bernard Cousino around a single reel carrying a continuous loop of standard 1/4-inch, plastic, oxide-coated recording tape, running at 3.75 in (9.53 cm) per second. Program starts and stops were signaled by a one-inch-long metal foil that activated the track-change sensor.[citation needed]

Inventor George Eash invented a design in 1953, called the Fidelipac cartridge.[7] The Eash cartridge was later licensed by manufacturers, notably the Collins Radio Company, which first introduced a cartridge system for broadcasting at the National Association of Broadcasters 1959 annual show. Fidelipac cartridges (nicknamed "carts" by DJs and radio engineers) were used by many radio stations for commercials, jingles, and other short items. Eash later formed the Fidelipac Corporation to manufacture and market tapes and recorders, as did several others, including Audio-Pak (Audio Devices Corp.).[citation needed]

There were several attempts to sell music systems for cars, beginning with the Chrysler Highway Hi-Fi of the late 1950s, which used discs. However, entrepreneur, marketer and television set dealer, Earl "Madman" Muntz, of Los Angeles, California, saw a potential in the "broadcast carts" for an automobile music system. In 1962, he introduced his Stereo-Pak four-track cartridge stereo system and tapes, mostly in California and Florida. The four tracks were divided into two "programs", typically corresponding to the two sides of an LP record, with each program comprising two tracks read simultaneously for stereo (two channel) sound playback. He licensed popular music albums from the major record companies and duplicated them on the four-track cartridges, or "CARtridges", as they were first advertised.[citation needed]

### Introduction of Stereo 8[edit]

Lear Jet Stereo 8 advertisement, Billboard July 16, 1966

The Lear Jet Stereo 8 cartridge was designed by Richard Kraus while working for the Lear Jet Corporation, under Bill Lear, in 1963. The major change was to incorporate a neoprene rubber and nylon pinch roller into the cartridge itself, rather than to make the pinch roller a part of the tape player, reducing mechanical complexity. Lear also eliminated some of the internal parts of the Eash cartridge, such as the tape-tensioning mechanism and an interlock that prevented tape slippage. By doubling the number of tracks from 4 to 8,[8] the length of any recording doubled to 80 minutes.[citation needed]

In 1964, Lear's aircraft company constructed 100 demonstration Stereo 8 players for distribution to executives at RCA and the auto companies.[citation needed]

### Commercial success[edit]

Factory optional 8-track stereo player in a 1967 American Motors Marlin mounted between the center console and dash

Factory installed AM/FM radio/8-track unit in a 1978 AMC Matador with a Briefcase Full of Blues cartridge in "play" position

The popularity of both four-track and eight-track cartridges grew from the booming automobile industry.[9] In September 1965, the Ford Motor Company introduced factory-installed and dealer-installed eight-track tape players as an option on three of its 1966 models (the sporty Mustang, luxurious Thunderbird, and high-end Lincoln),[10] and RCA Victor introduced 175 Stereo-8 Cartridges from its RCA Victor and RCA Camden labels of recording artists catalogs.[11] By the 1967 model year, all of Ford's vehicles offered this tape player upgrade option. Most of the initial factory installations were separate players from the radio (such as shown in the image), but dashboard mounted 8-track units were offered in combination with an AM radio, as well as with AM/FM receivers.[12] Muntz, and a few other manufacturers, also offered 4/8 or "12-track" players that were capable of playing cartridges of either format, 4-track or 8-track. With the backing of the U.S. automakers, the eight-track format quickly won out over the four-track format, with Muntz abandoning it completely by late 1970.[citation needed]

The 8-track format gained steadily in popularity because of its convenience and portability. Home players were introduced in 1966 that allowed consumers to share tapes between their homes and portable systems. By the late 1960s, the 8-track segment was the largest in the consumer electronics market and the popularity of 8-track systems for cars helped generate demand for home units.[13] "Boombox" type portable players were also popular but eight-track player/recorders failed to gain wide popularity and few manufacturers offered them except for manufacturer Tandy Corporation (for its Radio Shack electronics stores). With the availability of cartridge systems for the home, consumers started thinking of eight-tracks as a viable alternative to 33 rpm album style vinyl records, not only as a convenience for the car. Also by the late 1960s, prerecorded releases on the 8-track tape format began to arrive within a month of the vinyl release. The 8-track format became by far the most popular and offered the largest music library of all the tape systems.[14]

Eight-track players were fitted as standard equipment in most Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars of the period for sale in Great Britain and worldwide. Optional 8-track players were available in many cars and trucks through the early 1980s.[citation needed]

Ampex, based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, set up a European operation (Ampex Stereo Tapes) in London, England, in 1970 to promote 8-track product and musicassettes in Britain and Europe, but it struggled and folded in 1974.[verification needed] GRT Corporation, General Recorded Tape of Sunnyvale, California, was another large manufacturer which duplicated many tapes for smaller record labels; it went out of business in 1979.[citation needed]

### Early karaoke machines[edit]

Daisuke Inoue invented the first karaoke machine in 1971 called the Juke-8.[15][16]

### Nature and operation[edit]

A stereo 8-track cartridge has four different programs of two channel recordings. In contrast, quadraphonic 8-track cartridges use two programs of four channel recordings. A quad recording requires twice the length of tape as the comparable stereo version of the same album. Quad 8-tracks also have fewer musical interruptions when the player changes programs. Unlike cassette tapes, which have two sides, the 8-track machine always plays a tape in one direction.[citation needed]

The ends of the tape were spliced with a thin strip of metal that would trigger a solenoid that would cause the playback heads to automatically jump to the next program. Both types of players also provided a button for manually changing programs. Due to the design of the endless loop tape, which fed from the reel in only one direction, there was no rewind control. Due to the mechanical stress on the tape, few machines offered a fast-forward control.[citation needed]

### Quad 8 and Q8[edit]

Quadraphonic sound on pre-recorded eight-track cartridges was announced by RCA in April 1970. These tapes were not compatible with more conventional stereo playback units, although quad players were compatible with stereo tapes. Specially designed home and car quadraphonic players were introduced to hear all four channels as intended.[citation needed]

Ford was particularly eager to promote car quadraphonic players as a pricey option, being the only "Big Four" American automotive company to do so.[citation needed] The format enjoyed moderate success in the early 1970s but faded by mid-decade. Quadraphonic cartridges provided four channels of "discrete" audio, unlike the matrixed formats such as SQ matrix, which Columbia/CBS Records used for their quadraphonic LP records.[citation needed]

Quadraphonic sound was the first surround sound consumer music format. These recordings can realistically reproduce a live concert hall experience and musical enjoyment can be enhanced by more fully involving the listener. Though it is a niche market, quad recordings are often highly prized by music fans. Some quadraphonic 8-tracks are rare and have become highly collectible. Beginning in the 1990s many quadraphonic recordings were re-issued on modern digital surround sound formats such as Super Audio CD, DVD-Audio and Blu-ray.[citation needed]

### Other use[edit]

Milton Bradley's (MB) OMNI Entertainment System was an electronic quiz machine game first released in 1980, similar to Jeopardy! or later You Don't Know Jack video game series, using 8-track tapes for playback analog audio for questions, instructions and answers as well as digital signals in magnetic tape data storage on remaining tracks to load the right answer for counting the score. In 1978, the Mego Corporation launched the 2-XL toy robot, which utilized the tracks for determining right from wrong answers.[17] In 1977, the Scottish company GR International released the Bandmaster Powerhouse, a drum machine that played back custom-made 8-track cartridges containing drum and percussion rhythms loops recorded with real instruments. These could be subjected to a degree of processing using the drum machine's controls, which included tempo and instrument balance.[18]

### Decline[edit]

1978 was the peak year for 8-track sales in the United States, with sales declining quite rapidly from then on.[19] Eight-track players became less common in homes and vehicles in the late 1970s. The compact cassette had arrived in 1963[20] and, by the late 1970s, the eight-track cartridges had greatly diminished in popularity. In some Latin American and European countries, the format was abandoned in the mid-1970s in favor of the smaller cassette tape, which was one-third the size.[citation needed]

In the U.S., eight-track cartridges were phased out of retail stores in late 1982 and early 1983. However, some titles were still available as eight-track tapes through Columbia House and RCA (BMG) Music Service Record Clubs until late 1988. Until 1990, Radio Shack (Tandy Corporation) continued to sell blank eight-track cartridges and players for home recording use under its Realistic brand.[21]

The professional broadcast cart format survived for more than another decade, being used for jingles, advertisements, station identifications, and limited music content at most local radio stations, before being replaced by computer-generated sound in the 1990s. The format also continued in use for relatively short sound loops, in which a rapid start was more important than other criteria. The endless-loop tape concept continued to be used in newer cinema movie projectors, though their tape spool is actively rotated and not drawn by tension on the film. That technology is now almost entirely supplanted by digital cinema.[citation needed]

## See also[edit]

* Album era
* Timeline of audio formats
* Sound recording and reproduction
* Birotron

## References[edit]

1. ^ TelePro Cartridge Patent Fails, Billboard vol. 79, No. 27, 8 July 1967 p. 3
2. ^ "What Are 8-Track Tapes?". wisegeek.com. Retrieved 14 February 2015. "While immensely popular in the United States for a period of time ..."
3. ^ a b "Collector's Corner: The History of the Eight-Track Tape". Retrieved 22 January 2014. "Just as the signs were all pointing to eight-track toppling vinyl as the format of choice for music lovers in the United States, Canada and to a lesser extent, in Great Britain, along came the audio cassette"
4. ^ a b "What Are 8-Track Tapes?". Retrieved 22 January 2014. "Outside of the United Kingdom, Canada, and a few other nations, the use of 8-track technology was virtually unknown."
5. ^ "8-Tracking Around the World". www.8trackheaven.com.
6. ^ Wilford, John Noble (4 April 1971). "Bill Lear Thinks He'll Have the Last Laugh". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
7. ^ "George Eash CARtridge inventor tells how it was born". Billboard. Vol. 78, no. 10\. 3 March 1966. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
8. ^ Crews, Andrew D. (1 December 2003). "From Poulsen to Plastic: A Survey of Recordable Magnetic Media". The Cochineal. Archived from the original on 18 December 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
9. ^ "Vintage Audio Recording History". Videointerchange.com. 10 May 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
10. ^ Despagni, Anthony J. (1976). "Some Help From Debussy For the Hassled Driver". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
11. ^ "RCA Fires 175-Title Burst with Release of Stereo 8 Cartridges". Billboard. Vol. 77, no. 39\. 25 September 1965. p. 3\. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
12. ^ Mitchell, Larry G. (2000). AMC Muscle Cars. MBI Publishing. p. 73\. ISBN 978-0-7603-0761-8. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
13. ^ Kussisto, Oscar P. (2 November 1968). "8-track market booms". Billboard. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
14. ^ Shatavsky, Sam (February 1969). "The best tape system for you". Popular Science. 194 (2): 126–129.
15. ^ Raftery, Brian (2008). Don't Stop Believin': How Karaoke Conquered the World and Changed My Life. Boston, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306815836.
16. ^ Mitsui, Tōru; Hosokawa, Shūhei (1998). Karaoke around the world: global technology, local singing. London ; New York: Routledge. pp. 29–42. ISBN 9781280140877.
17. ^ Techmoan: MB OMNI Entertainment System - The 1980s 8-Track games machine, YouTube, 6 August 2017
18. ^ "GR International Bandmaster Powerhouse | Vintage Synth Explorer".
19. ^ "U.S. Sales Database".
20. ^ "The History of the Audio Cassette". Southtree. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
21. ^ "1990 Radio Shack Catalog". www.radioshackcatalogs.com.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 8-track tape.

* "A Survey of Recordable Magnetic Media" by Andrew D. Crews, December, 2003, University of Texas, accessed 8 August 2006
* So Wrong They're Right \- A 1995 documentary about 8-track enthusiasts
* 8-Track Heaven
* 8-Track Moments Listen to the sound of the 8-Track click
* Bill Lear Invents the 8-Track and Brings in Ford, Motorola, and RCA Victor. Recording History.org

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