8 track tape vs 1st press vinyl

There was, and is, NO 8T ever made that was better than a “decent” cassette tape or deck. Very few cassettes could better a decent LP on a decent table with a decent cartridge!

why are we even discussing this??

8T tapes were recorded enmass just like cassette tapes were. There were no Hi-Res or HiFi 8T tapes made, unless at home; Certainly not commercial 8Ts!! And finding a HiFi 8T deck?? Forget it!! 

Name one! If you can!

8T recorded from Master Tapes?? Name ONE!

i have 117 8T tapes, and the best Lear deck I could find, fully restored and cleaned and aligned. Tho OP here is as high as my 1976 neighbors were!! 

Yep, Lear Jet safe time fly on, 8 track.... not so much

With an 8 track, every guitar is a slide guitar....

The signal to noise on the 8 track player could be improved by 3.1459 db simply by shutting off the fan, 10 db could be achieved by turning the Audi Fox ignition to off....

8T was originally designed for only a small amount of tape inside (less weight, smaller ratio of inside/outside diameter, less slip/compression). For pre-packaged single advertising content. DJ just jammed that cartridge/ad in the player. End of AD campaign, toss it in the trash quickly.

Actually, that was the Fidelipac cartridge. It originally had two tracks on 1/4-inch tape, one monaural program audio and a second for cueing. Later stereo versions had either three tracks (two program and one cue) or two stereo tracks and a foil tab for cueing. These ran at 7.5 IPS for broadcasting. They weren't thrown away but bulk erased and reused. Unlike the 8-track, the pinch roller was part of the player, not integrated into the cartridge. When used with quality and well-maintained equipment they had decent fidelity. They needed special tape with the back side lubricated to allow slippage for the continuous loop. The typical size was the same as 8-track tapes for a commercial spot or popular top-40 song up to 10 minutes but larger carts were made that could play for an hour or more.

The identical mechanical cartridge format became the 4-track tape sold by Muntz Stereo-Pak as an add-on accessory for cars and each pair of stereo tracks held an album side. These, like the 8-track, ran at 3 3/4 IPS. They used a foil cueing tab for track change.

Automotive manufacturers and Lear came up with the 8-track to compete with the aftermarket 4-track. Same size cartridge but the pinch roller was built-in to the cartridge and tensioned by a V-shaped notch in the side of the cartridge. Thinner tracks resulted in poorer fidelity than the 4-track and the pinch roller setup was troublesome.