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Welcome to Hell, here's your 8-Track

Neil Postman once said, 

"Anyone who has studied the history of technology knows that technological change is always a Faustian bargain: Technology giveth and technology taketh away, and not always in equal measure. A new technology sometimes creates more than it destroys. Sometimes, it destroys more than it creates. But it is never one-sided."

I'm pretty sure that we know that the 8-track was more bad than good.

Question for audiophiles here who might know -- was there anything good about 8-track technology that was lost when it went extinct? And what was that good, audio-wise, specifically?

 

128x128hilde45
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,373 posts
 

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.

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,373 posts
 

That makes me think that most people might consider talking hifi with a die hard audiophile a form of hell on earth. It can even drive me somewhat bonkers sometimes.

avanti1960
1,490 posts
 

my friend had a pioneer home deck, it really sounded decent.  continuous play was nice. 

still the format was totally flawed. 3 spontaneous interruptions per title when the head moved to the next track.  bulky footprint and low density per minute of music.

i remember hearing david bowie for the first time...

"suffragette citay, who hi, my suffragette citay,......... awwwww wam.................click..............click................bam thank you mam"

arcticdeth's avatar
arcticdeth
1,572 posts
 

Loved my 8 track, pop it in and it would not stop til pulled out 😁

 

had a few fave, Styx, paradise theatre, grand illusion, II,

Eagles, the long run

billy Joel, 42nd st. 
 

ac/dc, high voltage, highway to hell

kiss, destroyer

judas priest, sin after sin, 

humble pie- eat it

 

pop one in, and play all night, til sick, then put in another.

sound was fine through my old Jensen speakers, I think the amp was a sears (Mca) or something receiver, worked just fine.

 

only gripe was the splitting of the song in 2 parts from 1,2,3, or 4 programs. 
 

 Upgraded to a bitchin Wollensack recordable 8 track player, champagne gold color, meters, every bell & whistle, amazing unit, been Saran wrapped after cleaning for past 38 years. 
still have box of 8 tracks, cassettes, , and a couple reel to reel albums, 1 Hendrix, and one Joplin. 
 

I liked them. 
do I want them back, no. Cassettes were a godsend, as well as my LP records. 
 

I see some 8tracks on eBay sometimes for 30-50$, I laugh and move on. 

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