8-track cartridge

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This is an article about the 8-track cartridge. For eight-track multitracking, see Multitrack recording.
An 8-track cartridge
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An 8-track cartridge

The 8-track cartridge is a magnetic tape technology for audio storage, popular from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. The 8-track was created by Bill Lear in 1964 at the Lear Jet Corporation, after he heard Earl "Madman" Muntz's 1962, 4-track tape system, called Stereo-Pak. Stereo-Pak, in turn, had been inspired by the 1959 Fidelipac 3-track system (invented by George Eash in 1954) used by radio broadcasters for commercials, jingles, and single song hits.

The original format for magnetic tape sound reproduction was reel-to-reel audio tape recording, first made available after World War II in the late 1940s. However, the machines were bulky and the reels themselves were more difficult to handle than vinyl records. Born from the desire to have an easier-to-use tape format, the enclosed reel mechanism was introduced in the mid-1950s.

Contents

[edit] Development

The inside of an 8-track cartridge
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The inside of an 8-track cartridge

The endless loop tape cartridge was first designed in 1952 by Bernard Cousino of Toledo, Ohio, around a single reel carrying a continuous loop of standard 1/4-inch, plastic, oxide-coated recording tape running at 3.75 inches per second (9.5 centimeters per second). Program starts and stops were signaled either by a conductive foil splice or sub-audible tones.

This cartridge was later revised and marketed under the name Fidelipac in 1959 by George Eash (also of Toledo, Ohio), an inventor who had rented a work space in the Cousino building in the 1950s. [1] These Fidelipac cartridges were first used as radio station promo and advertising "carts" starting in late 1959. They had been introduced at the 1959 National Association of Broadcasters convention by Collins Radio.

Entrepreneur Earl "Madman" Muntz of Los Angeles, California saw a potential in these "broadcast carts" for an automobile music system and in 1962 introduced his "Stereo-Pak" 4-track system and tapes, mostly in California and Florida. He licensed popular music albums from the major record companies and duplicated them on these 4-track cartridges, or "CARtridges", as they were first advertised.

The Lear Jet Stereo-8 track cartridge was designed by Bill Lear, of Lear Jet fame, in 1964. It simplified the mechanism by rolling the motorized metal capstan in the player against a pinch wheel installed inside the cartridge to pull the tape across the player's read head (in the earlier Muntz 4-track Stereo-Pak, the pinch wheel was part of the player and flipped into the cartridge through an access hole). The tape was pulled from the center of the reel, passed across the opening at the end of the cartridge and wound back onto the outside of the same reel. The spool itself was freewheeling and the tape was driven only by tension from the capstan.

The tape was coated with a slippery backing material patented by Bernard Cousino, usually graphite, to ease the continuous slip between the tape layers. This coating sometimes also caused the pinch wheel to slip, leading to poor speed control and tape flutter. Due to these and other problems, 8-track cartridges were unpopular with audiophiles. While the design allowed simple, cheap, and mobile players, unlike a two-reel system it didn't permit winding of the tape in either direction. Some players offered a limited fast-forward by speeding up the motor while cutting off the audio, but rewinding was impossible.

Muntz's 4-track Stereo-Pak cartridge (Eash's Fidelipac) had four monaural or two pairs of stereo tracks. Track switching was achieved by physically moving the head up and down mechanically by a lever. A professional version also used in broadcasting, achieved much wider bandwidth with single full-track mono or a half-track stereo pair, along with a separate cue track for recording cue tones for fast cues and a fixed, non-moving playback head. While this provided higher fidelity and was extremely convenient and reliable for busy disc jockeys and studio engineers, program length was usually limited to that of a single song and the cartridges required some maintenance, making the format too expensive and limited for consumer use.

In all versions, the cartridge played continuously with no rewinding, though there was usually a short gap in the audio at the splice in the tape loop. 8-track cartridges doubled playing time by recording four stereo tracks (for a total of eight) on the tape, although this made each track half as wide, reducing the sound quality. 4-track tapes had to be manually switched from program 1 to 2 and back. (The term 4-track cartridge was created by back-formation.) 8-track tapes were advertised as "automatic", because the foil-sensing splice at the end of each track switched the player to the next program automatically, without the need for a person to adjust the player as was necessary with the 4-track cartridge.

8-tracks had an audible pause and mechanical click when tracks were automatically switched. there would be long pauses at the end of the track (if the original song order were to be preserved and the songs not chopped), the songs were reordered (to achieve a more even distribution of song time to minimize the end or track pauses), or in the most egregious cases, having a song actually be chopped into pieces.

Worse, due to the expense of 8-track 1/4" wide tape heads, most 8-track players used a two-track 1/4" head and moved it to align with each of the four "programs" (pairs of left and right track) on the tape. Mechanical alignment of the head to the tape is crucially important, and moving the head up and down with a comparatively clumsy and imprecise mechanism ensured the head would quickly come out of alignment. Among audio service technicians, there used to be a joke that "the 8-track is the only audio device which knocks itself out of alignment four times during each album", a premise which actually did not occur.

If the azimuth of the head became misadjusted, there would be a faint audio bleed of adjacent tracks into the currently playing track, as well as a loss of frequency response, as with any misadjusted tape system. Also, the cartridge mechanism was prone to breakage from dropping, etc., so misused and uncared for 8-tracks had generally short lives.

[edit] Commercial release

The popularity of both 4-track and 8-track cartridges grew from the booming automobile industry. In September 1965, Ford Motor Company introduced built-in 8-track players as a custom option.[2] By 1966, all of their vehicles offered this upgrade. Thanks to Ford's backing, the 8-track format eventually won out over the 4-track format, which disappeared by late 1970.

Despite the problems of fitting a standard vinyl LP album onto a four-program cartridge, the format gained steady popularity due to its convenience and portability. Home players were introduced in 1966. With the availability of cartridge systems for the home, consumers started thinking of 8-tracks as a viable alternative to vinyl records, not only as a convenience for the car. Within a year, prerecorded releases on 8-track began to arrive within a month of the vinyl release.

The devices were especially popular among professional truck drivers, as this was the first successful prerecorded playback device for use in a moving vehicle. Previous attempts to build a mechanical disc player were troubled by skipping caused by vehicle motion.

8-track recorders were available but never achieved the sales level of the players. Like cassettes, their recording quality meant they were rarely used for commercial music recording although there were famous exceptions such as Bo Hansson's The Lord of the Rings.

Quadraphonic 8-track cartridges (Introduced by RCA Records in September 1970 and first known as Quad 8, then shortened to just Q8) were also produced. The format enjoyed a moderate amount of success for a time but faded in the mid-1970s. These cartridges are prized by collectors since they provide 4 channels of discrete sound, unlike matrixed formats such as SQ. Most Quadraphonic albums were specially mixed for the Quad format.

The BBC also used 8-track cartridges for playing the national anthem at closedown on BBC television's main channel, BBC1. They previously used vinyl records (at 78rpm) until the newer, faster version of the national anthem (recorded on 8-track cartridges) was introduced by the BBC on October 6, 1972. The 8-track cartridges with this version of the national anthem were used for 25 years until BBC1 finally started 24-hour broadcasting on November 9, 1998.

[edit] Decline and demise

The primary reason for the format's demise was the inablility of listeners to "cue" the songs they wished to listen to, something the stereo casette would offer.

The 8-track cartridge was made obsolete by the Compact Cassette. Unlike the 8-track, it was invented as a monophonic dictation device in 1963 with no consideration for high fidelity in its original design. The stereo "Music" audio cassette (or Musicassette) introduced in 1966[3] became a practical high-fidelity format with the addition of Dolby noise reduction to cassette tapes in 1971. With further refinements, frequency response in excess of 20 kHz and wow and flutter below 0.05 percent were attained in the 1980s. The best hi-fi machines would begin to approach digital CDs in some aspects of sound quality.

Cassettes were more convenient to use, with faster song access compared to 8-tracks, which did not have rewind and had only limited fast-forward functions. They had more robust sound quality, were smaller than 8-track tapes, stored more music without breaks, and could be recorded in home cassette decks, which were uncommon in 8-track format. During the transitional period in the 1980s, there was wide availability of adapters that fit into automotive 8-track players to allow insertion and playback of cassettes without the need to install a new stereo. However, adaptors to allow external devices to function on tape players for compact cassettes were made later.

8-track players became less common in homes and automobiles as the 1970s went on. By the time the Compact Disc arrived in 1982-3, the 8-track had greatly diminished in popularity. 8-track Tape Cartridges were phased out of retail stores by 1983. However, the professional broadcast cart format, based on the Fidelipac design, survived for another decade at most radio stations where it had been an industry standard for playing and switching short jingles, advertisements, station identifications, and music content for over forty years before being replaced with various computer-based methods in the late 1990s. TV shows such the J.P. Patches children's show made use of these cartridges to interject sound effects into a show.

Selected titles were still available as tapes through record clubs until 1989. Many of these late-period releases are highly collectible due to the low numbers that were produced. Among the most rare is Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas Flood. There was also a rare record club only 8-track box set of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Live/1975-85, which is probably the only boxed set ever released on vinyl, cassette, compact disc and 8-track tape.

There is a debate among collectors about what was the last commercially released 8 track by a major label, but many agree it was Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits in November 1988.[4]. The last 8-track tapes by major recording companies were from record and tape clubs in 1988 like RCA (BMG Music) and Columbia House (CRC). There are reports of bootleg 8-track tapes being made in Mexico as late as 1995 [1]. Some independent artists have released 8-track tapes as late as 2006 [2]. Apart from a select group of highly collectible artists, the record club issues, and the quadraphonic releases, many 8-track tapes seem to have limited value to most collectors, especially if they have been misused or are worn looking. 8-track cartridge tapes that are in near-new or unopened condition have the most "Collector Value" [3]. The record-club-only 8-track cartridge that seems to sell for the highest amount is The Police's The Singles, which has sold for over $200 for a single copy. Another highly sought-after title among collectors has been The Sex Pistols' Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols, which has sold for over $100 for an open copy in average condition, though there are other titles that have sold for much more. One example is a fair condition Iron Maiden 'Number Of The Beast' which sold for $225. However, the kingpin of collectable 8 tracks must be the Frank Sinatra / Antonio Carlos Jobim collaboration which sells for thousands.One recently sold in June of 2006 for 4,500.00 from an auction on ebay.

The endless loop tape concept continues to be used in modern cinema movie projectors, although in that application the spool is actively rotated and not drawn by tension on the film.

Although today the 8-track is dismissed as a failure, from a commercial standpoint, it was a huge success. It was the first truly portable format of music, reaching a mass-market and giving people the ability to take their favorite music in the car, on the beach, or anywhere else for that matter. Even today, 40 years after its debut, the 8-track has established a somewhat cult following, with avid collectors located coast to coast.

[edit] Cartridge repair

A decrease in the quality of the parts used in the 8-Track cartridge was one of the direct downfalls of the format, as problems developed with the reliability, sound and smooth playing of the tape. Due to these problems, the 8-track developed a notorious reputation for being "finicky" and somewhat unreliable--however most of the problems that plagued the format would have been entirely avoided if the manufacturers had only developed quality control standards for both the cartridges and players.

As 8-track tapes age, they sometimes need to be repaired so that their life may be extended. With a little care and patience, an old 8-track can be restored to its original performance.

Old tapes may break at the channel-switching foil splice when the glues used during manufacture harden with age. Repair sometimes requires careful disassembly of the cartridge and the addition of a new metallic foil-sensing splice.

On some cartridges, a plastic and foam pressure pad behind the tape path holds the tape against the tape head as the tape moves across it. This material can disintegrate with age, leaving a glob of sticky material that will not support the tape against the head, and may damage the tape. A new foam pressure pad will remedy this problem, although this also requires cartridge disassembly.

Also, in early cartridges, the rubber in the pinch roller, which pulls the tape across the heads, was not fully cured, and this caused them to deteriorate with time, melting into a sticky, tar-like material. These can be replaced with a new rubber pinch roller of the same size and proportions. Rubber pinch rollers manufactured after 1969 are made of fully cured rubber which does not deteriorate over time. In late 1970, RCA Records switched to a new plastic material, which some other companies also used. However, rubber is the preferred material for pinch rollers as it grips the tape better for more even and precise movement.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Eash had invented the Fidelipak in 1954 and was issued a U.S. patent in Jan. 1957.
  2. ^ "A History of The Eight Track Tape" by David Morton in 8-Track Mind magazine, 1995. accessed August 8, 2006
  3. ^ Electronics World magazine, November 1966
  4. ^ Record Club Only 8-tracks from 8-Track Heaven. Accessed November 11, 2006

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Audio format
Analog

Phonograph cylinder (1870s) | Gramophone record (1895) | Reel-to-reel audio tape recording (1940s) | Vinyl record (1948) | Compact Cassette (1963) | 8-track cartridge (1964) | Microcassette (1969) | Elcaset (1976)
Digital

Compact Disc (1982) | Digital Audio Tape (1987) | MiniDisc (1991) | Digital Compact Cassette (1992) | 5.1 Music Disc (1997) | Super Audio CD (1999) | DVD-Audio (2000)
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