Welcome to Hell, here's your 8-Track

Haven't posted in some time, but had to respond to this post. I have to disagree to the bobbergman post. My 4 track was superior in many ways to my Panasonic 8 track player/recorder. Having only 4 bands on a tape the same width as an 8 track, there no hearing overlap of 2 tracks, the totally annoying changing tracks in the middle of the song. It was a Kraco (sp?) player and most cartridges were made by Muntz. Can't remember it ever 'eating a tape' either. I did like painstakingly recording various songs on my Panasonic 8 track and timing them to end correctly. Manufacturers preferred the 8 track because it only used half the tape length. I'd been buying LP's for some time, but you couldn't play them in the car. I also acquired an ac/dc converter to play them at home. Sounded great thru my Lafayette speakers circa 1968. Good times indeed.

P.S. Yes 4 tracks came before 8 tracks.

@nonoise 

When I first read the header of this thread, I thought it was going to be something along the lines of what we audiophiles are in store for when we do get to hell.

I think hell will be worse. We'll be trapped in discussions exclusively focused on speaker bracing, DAC chip comparisons, isolation materials, and whether the crappy electrical wires in our walls make all power cords a waste of money.

Can't wait....😄

8 track was an advancement at the time in the early 70s mostly in regards to how easy it was to pop an 8 track into a player which could cost as little as less than $30 in the day for a small portable device. Could be at home or portable on the road or in the car. Compare that to playing a record or reel to reel tape. The first recordings I bought with my own money were 8 tracks, though I quickly moved on. Sound quality was as good as most anything else comparable most people actually had. Then the much more versatile but also far more delicate cassette tape took over. So it was an advancement but one whose time came and went quickly.