Poll of the Day > why did 8tracks even exist

(+) Yeah! (+)

why not just do cassettes to begin with

that's all an 8track is, a giant shitty cassette

People wanted to be able to skip to stuff they wanted

Because you touch yourself at night

Why start with cassette tapes? Why not just jump directly to digital flash drives? Set your sights higher.

8-tracks had a few advantages. Since the tape was a continuous loop, you never had to flip it over or rewind. Each tape also had 4 pairs of stereo tracks which could be selected by pressing a button. There was also a quadraphonic version which had 2 sets of quad tracks; compact cassettes were not capable of quadraphonic sound.

So we could have this exact scene in Boogie Nights.

https://youtu.be/La3U41b0WSU?t=60

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Why start with cassette tapes? Why not just jump directly to digital flash drives? Set your sights higher.

Or go directly to CDs, the peak of music listening

8 tracks was a magnetic tape sound and recording storage medium that was popular from the 1960s until the early 1980s then it evolved into cassettes then CDs as far as music is concerned just as we went from vcr tapes to dvds.

My elder relatives all have fond memories of having to play the entire 8 track just to get back to their fav song as there was no FF or RW early on.

Muscles posted...

Or go directly to CDs, the peak of music listening

The peak if music listening is actually vinyl though

OhhhJa posted...

The peak if music listening is actually vinyl though

I'll agree with you there but cars never had record players

Why did they start with Kilobytes? Why not just jump to Terabytes?

all the dumb crap everyone is posting doesn't even make sense

they had the technology for regular cassette tapes when they made 8tracks, there was no reason for 8tracks to ever exist

Muscles posted...

I'll agree with you there but cars never had record players

There were record players for cars. The Chrysler Highway Hi-Fi spun at 16-2/3 RPM (one half of 33-1/3) and had a very heavy tone arm and extremely narrow needle. The records had 550 grooves per inch and could hold 45 minutes of music or 60 minutes of speech per side.

There were issues with it, however. The high stylus pressure wore out the grooves very quickly, and it required special records made by only a single record label. The players themselves were poorly designed and had high warranty service costs for the manufacturer.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/9/AAQwHjAADljt.jpg

hera posted...

they had the technology for regular cassette tapes when they made 8tracks, there was no reason for 8tracks to ever exist

8tracks were better

hera posted...

they had the technology for regular cassette tapes when they made 8tracks, there was no reason for 8tracks to ever exist

Because like most technology when it is first released, it wasn't financially viable for the commercial market until like 20 years after it was released. Conversely, 8 tracks were commercially viable in the 70's and therefore took off then.

I mean, what sane person would go "Gee, I know I can buy this 8 track for $10, but for $150 I can get the same album on cassette!"

captpackrat posted...

There were record players for cars. The Chrysler Highway Hi-Fi spun at 16-2/3 RPM (one half of 33-1/3) and had a very heavy tone arm and extremely narrow needle. The records had 550 grooves per inch and could hold 45 minutes of music or 60 minutes of speech per side.

There were issues with it, however. The high stylus pressure wore out the grooves very quickly, and it required special records made by only a single record label. The players themselves were poorly designed and had high warranty service costs for the manufacturer.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/9/AAQwHjAADljt.jpg

lol that is so goofy

remember how bad the first car cd players were with skipping all the time?

imagine vinyl records lmao

hera posted...

all the dumb crap everyone is posting doesn't even make sense

they had the technology for regular cassette tapes when they made 8tracks, there was no reason for 8tracks to ever exist

Ffs, we get it. You don't understand anything.

cassettes were cheaper than 8tracks lmao

and they were also around since before 8tracks

if you're going to try and insult me, at least know what you're talking about

because i certainly do~

hera posted...

cassettes were cheaper than 8tracks lmao

and they were also around since before 8tracks

if you're going to try and insult me, at least know what you're talking about

because i certainly do~

Then you would know that cassette players were primarily used for recording and playback of sound until the 80's, and that it was due to the cost of mass-producing cassette tapes and players. Simply put, in the 60's it was cheaper to mass-produce 8 track players. By the 80's cassette had become cheaper and 8 tracks were the same price as they were in the 60's. So saying one is cheaper then the other is only a half truth. They became cheaper which is why they were popular when they were.

It was the same thing with VHS/Betamax. It was used as a recording medium because it was cost-restrictive to use it for home releases of movies/TV. People had to spend a whole paycheck on a player and a single tape, so no one was going to expect consumers to buy multiple movies on tape. By the 80's and 90's, that was no longer the case.

Dikitain posted...

Then you would know that cassette players were primarily used for recording and playback of sound until the 80's, and that it was due to the cost of mass-producing cassette tapes and players. Simply put, in the 60's it was cheaper to mass-produce 8 track players. By the 80's cassette had become cheaper and 8 tracks were the same price as they were in the 60's. So saying one is cheaper then the other is only a half truth. They became cheaper which is why they were popular when they were.

It was the same thing with VHS/Betamax. It was used as a recording medium because it was cost-restrictive to use it for home releases of movies/TV. People had to spend a whole paycheck on a player and a single tape, so no one was going to expect consumers to buy multiple movies on tape. By the 80's and 90's, that was no longer the case.

hello

in 1970 you could get a home cassette deck for $99.

also in 1971, an 8 track player was around $170, but could be found for as little as...$90

so, yes, while technically cheaper, it effectively was the same.

what about the media? well, glad you asked!

since im tired of finding these stupid ads, I'm gonna just use the mail order price. $8 for an 8 track tape in 1970

for a cassette tape it's, uh, also around $8 in 1970

and this was about 8 or 9 years before 8 track stopped being a thing, too.

so

recordable 8 track tapes were around $15 for a single one (the cheapest 8 track recorder in 1970 I can find is $200, I'm sure there were cheaper options), conversely a 3 pack of cassettes were $3 (cassette players that could record were about $150, but im sure there were also cheaper options)

https://youtu.be/H5m6zs1UIVg

I remember having 8 tracks that would change tracks that would change midsong.

Someone mentioned CDs. I remember the first advertisement I saw of one it said they wouldn't skip or scratch.
Then there were people who hung CDs from their rearview mirror to look cool or something.

Gah, this turned into a ," Back in my day"...

Dikitain posted...

It was the same thing with VHS/Betamax. It was used as a recording medium because it was cost-restrictive to use it for home releases of movies/TV. People had to spend a whole paycheck on a player and a single tape, so no one was going to expect consumers to buy multiple movies on tape. By the 80's and 90's, that was no longer the case.

Video media have the added aspect of the Porn industry being a large influencer.

porn actually embraced betamax because it had a higher quality image

it was disney who backed vhs

what actually was the war was how long you could record on a tape and price of the machine

betamax eventually got to around 4ish hours to match vhs, but at that point betamax had single digit marketshare

myghostisdead posted...

Then there were people who hung CDs from their rearview mirror to look cool or something.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/1/9/AAFUswAADlpL.jpg

hera posted...

hello

in 1970 you could get a home cassette deck for $99.

Keyword: home

If you were at home, you were listening to records. And record players were way cheaper than that. What was the price of a portable cassette deck in 1970, or a car radio with a cassette deck in 1970? Then compare that to the price of an 8 track.

They didn't become affordable until around the time of the walkman in 1979.

And that is not even getting into the fact that $99 in 1970 was essentially $800 in today's money.

recordable 8 track tapes were around $15 for a single one (the cheapest 8 track recorder in 1970 I can find is $200, I'm sure there were cheaper options), conversely a 3 pack of cassettes were $3 (cassette players that could record were about $150, but im sure there were also cheaper options)

And 8 track was never advertised as recordable media. Which was also my point.

OhhhJa posted...

The peak if music listening is actually vinyl though

It entirely depends. Usually music sounds best on the technology of the era it was produced in.

Dikitain posted...

If you were at home, you were listening to records. And record players were way cheaper than that. What was the price of a portable cassette deck in 1970, or a car radio with a cassette deck in 1970? Then compare that to the price of an 8 track.

philips rn582 the first ever car cassette player, 1971, 35, converted to USD it would be around $85 (i cannot find an american ad for it, since it mostly just came pre installed in cars here at the time)

a car 8track deck was, cheapest i can find is one by a brand called "medallion" for $60-70 in 1970, but Craig also made them and this ad states they ranged from $50-170