Originally published at: Listen to this fun 8-Track tape podcast! | Boing Boing
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I recently looked up how 8-tracks worked because it wasn’t clear to me how they were different from cassettes. Like, other than the obvious appearance differences, how do they actually work?
Turns out they are one of the rare implementations of “tape loops”. The tape inside is a continuous loop wrapped around a single drum, with a feed that runs out to some pinch rollers, and back to the same drum. The way it is wrapped means it can wind and unwind itself infinitely, never needs rewinding (actually can’t be rewound because of how the wrapping works), and can play continuously forever. It’s a neat format in many ways!
Tape loops are very clever but never found a lot of applications. The Sinclair computers (notably the QL) had a data storage thing called the Microdrive that was actually a tiny tape loop. That’s the only other case I can find.
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Many radio stations used similar tape loops in cartridges called “carts”. They were often used for intros, station identification, PSAs, that sort of thing
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Also, don’t forget about the Mellotron!
ETA: I withdraw this statement, because I just looked it up and apparently Mellotrons did not use tape loops. They used single lengths of magnetic tape that after played were returned to their original position by a spring.
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Ah, fascinating. That makes perfect sense as an application. Thanks for sharing!
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Weren’t jingles recorded on those things?
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The features you mentioned also mean that the 8-track format was much more durable than cassette – far less wear and tear on the magnetic tape, when it only needs to move in one direction without sudden stops or reversals.
I had an 8-track player in my first car, a mustard-colored 1976 Toyota Corolla. I had several Queen albums on 8-track, in addition to the Eagles greatest hits, REO Speedwagon, and other “golden oldies” .
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Radio station carts had the same physical format as 8-track tapes, but were generally much shorter in length, like 30 seconds or 1 minute, and they only had two tracks, not eight. I’m sure they were used for jingles and short advertisements, although my only experience is in non-commercial radio. Usually we would record, cut, and edit on a large reel-to-reel recorder, then transfer to cart for use in the DJ studio.
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That makes sense, and before almost everything turned digital a short tape loop in a cart must have been real easy to cue up quickly, ideal for radio.
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Theres the scene in Waynes World 2 where the DJ “Handsome Dan” is cueing up all his sound bites on carts during the interview.
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Thanks - that’s not where I was remembering it from, but I remembered the “vibe” 
Glad I’m not just imagining these things…
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Right, and there was really no “cueing up” necessary, since the machine would automatically find the “beginning” of the loop. All the DJ had to do was push the button and the cart would play its full length.
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8-track tapes are really crappy when you try to resurrect them after 40 years. The pressure pads are made of foam and glue that crumble to dust. The adhesive on the metallic track-signalling splice is likely to fall apart after a few plays.
The old players have a similar list of failure modes. Sometimes you get lucky and find one that works reliably and plays at a steady speed.
But hey, they’re retro!
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Ugh, I know this well. I’m into old computers, and they have a bunch of parts made from various plastics that don’t last 40 years. We all thought plastic was infinite but nobody had ever tested every type for 40 years. Turns out some of them fail quite catastrophically around the 30-40 year mark.
You mentioned that foam that turns to dust. It’s used in a lot of keyboards. There’s another common type used in old electronics that gets so brittle it snaps if you look at it. Any UV makes this much worse of course, but I’ve seen it happen with the machines sitting in dark closets.
The worst is that there’s a kind of rubber that turns to insufferable goo. It was used in soft feet under peripherals, pinch rollers in tape decks, and other things. I recently had to toss an umbrella for this problem, in fact. The handle was made of this goo-forming plastic and once this happens, the object becomes untouchable. It’s very sticky, gooey, and nasty, but there’s nothing you can do about it. The air bag on the steering wheel of my last car was coated in this type of plastic also, and all the owners of that car are now having to replace their steering wheels because they’re all goo now. It’s terrible stuff. It’s popular again now because it feels “high end” when new. It has kind of a velvety soft feel to it that is nice, but it only lasts about 15 years. I wish there was a way to get manufacturers to stop using plastics like that.
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I had a nice briefcase where the inner part of the handle was made of that stuff.
“Hey, I’ll use my old briefcase and … OMG what is that stuff on my hand??”
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My most amusing encounter with this goo: a Televideo TS-816 multi-user CP/M server. It was about 15 years old, fortunately we had stopped using it years earlier. I tried powering it up on a lark. The head on the 8 inch hard drive wouldn’t move. Took the cover off, and found that the head actuator was glued into place by the rubber end stop cushion pad.
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I still have hand tools with grips covered in this shite. Gaff tape to the rescue!
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