Nathan Coraor wrote:
>
> Ick. They're basically old tape players, they take a cartridge with an
> annoying looping tape. The sound quality is horrible and you're not likely
> to find any cartridges anywhere except an antique store. =) On a seperate
> note, my '79 Cobalt (boat) came with a nice Pioneer 8-track...
Most of this is true. Actually, the sound quality is fine, at least as
good as that of most cassette machines, until you encounter the
inevitable "sticky" cartridge, which wows and flutters like there's no
tomorrow because of the (consumer) 8-track's inferior drive mechanism.
The eight-track cartridge also has a metal strip in it at the beginning
of the loop, which (through the tape head) triggers the deck to notch
the head down to the next corresponding track in the loop. The
challenge to the record companies was to make the album fit evenly onto
the tape loop, in four segments -- but sometimes, it just happened in
the middle of a song, like the old cartridge I had by Spirit. Remember
them? Randy California et al?
Interestingly, the 8-track is based on technology still used in every
radio station in the world today (except the all-digital one). Almost
all recorded radio program segments are on 1/4 inch, self-cueing endless
loop cartridges.
--
Martin Secrest
73 GT6
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