View source for 8-track cartridge

{{Short description|Magnetic tape sound recording format}}
{{About|the eight-track cartridge|eight-track multitracking|Multitrack recording}}
{{Other uses|Cartridge (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox media
| name          = Stereo 8
| logo          = 
| image         = 8track inside.JPG
| caption       = The inside of a cartridge. The black rubber pinch roller is at upper right.
| type          = [[Magnetic tape cartridge]]
| encoding      = Stereo [[analog signal]]
| capacity      = Four stereo channels
| blocksize     = 
| read          = [[Tape head]]
| write         = [[Magnetic]] [[recording head]]
| standard      = 
| owner         = Lear Industries
| use           = Audio storage
| extended from = [[Fidelipac]]/Mohawk cartridge<ref name="bb670708">[https://books.google.com/books?id=wycEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3 "TelePro Cartridge Patent Fails"], ''Billboard'' vol. 79, No. 27, 8 July 1967, p. 3.</ref>
| extended to   = 
| released = {{Start date and age|1964}}
}}

The '''8-track tape''' (formally '''Stereo 8'''; commonly called '''eight-track cartridge''', '''eight-track tape''', and '''eight-track''') is a [[Magnetic tape sound recording|magnetic-tape sound-recording]] technology that was popular<ref>{{cite web |quote=While immensely popular in the United States for a period of time ... |title=What Are 8-Track Tapes? |url= http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-8-track-tapes.htm |publisher=wisegeek.com |access-date=14 February 2015}}</ref> from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s, when the [[compact cassette]], which antedated the 8-track system, surpassed it in popularity for recorded music.<ref name=goldmine>{{cite web |url=http://www.goldminemag.com/collector-resources/collectors-corner-the-history-of-the-eight-track-tape |quote=Just as the signs were all pointing to eight-track toppling vinyl as the format of choice for music lovers in the United States, Canada ''and '''to a lesser extent''', in Great Britain'', along came the audio cassette |title=Collector's Corner: The History of the Eight-Track Tape |date=23 December 2005 |access-date=2014-01-22}}</ref><ref name=unknown>{{cite web |title=What Are 8-Track Tapes? |url=http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-8-track-tapes.htm |access-date=2014-01-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Eight-Track Tapes |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/culture-magazines/eight-track-tapes |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=[[Encyclopedia.com]] |quote=Outside of the United Kingdom, Canada, and a few other nations, the use of 8-track technology was virtually unknown.}}</ref>

The format was commonly used in cars and was most popular in the United States and Canada, and to a lesser extent, in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Japan.<ref name=goldmine/><ref name=unknown/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.8trackheaven.com/archive/world.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811115414/http://www.8trackheaven.com/archive/world.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=11 August 2016 |title=8-Tracking Around the World |website=www.8trackheaven.com}}</ref> One advantage of the 8-track tape cartridge was that it could play continuously in an endless loop, and did not have to be ejected, turned around, and reinserted to play the entire tape. After about 80 minutes of playing time, the tape would start again at the beginning. Because of the loop, no rewind is needed. The only options the user has are play, fast forward, record, and program (track) change.<ref name="car_cartridges_hifi1968annual">[https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-HiFI-Stereo/SPECIALS/HiFi-Stereo-Review-1968-Tape-Recorder-Annual.pdf "Car Cartridges Come Home"], pp. 18–22, ''[[High Fidelity (magazine)|HiFi]]'' / ''[[Stereo Review]]''{{'}}s ''Tape Recorder Annual 1968'', retrieved May 22, 2023. (Detailed comparative diagrams of a [[Fidelipac]] cartridge on p. 20, with comparison to Lear Jet 8-track cartridge and Phillips [[Cassette tape|cassette]] diagrams on p. 21.)</ref>

The Stereo 8 Cartridge was created in 1964 by a consortium led by [[Bill Lear]] of [[Lear Jet]] Corporation,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/04/archives/bill-lear-thinks-hell-have-the-last-laugh.html |title=Bill Lear Thinks He'll Have the Last Laugh |last=Wilford|first=John Noble |date=1971-04-04 |work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2017-09-29|language=en-US |issn=0362-4331|archive-date=29 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929232032/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/04/archives/bill-lear-thinks-hell-have-the-last-laugh.html}}</ref> along with [[Ampex]], [[Ford Motor Company]], [[General Motors]], [[Motorola]], and [[RCA Victor Records]] ([[RCA Corporation|RCA]]—Radio Corporation of America).

The 8-track tape format is now considered obsolete, although some collectors refurbish these tapes and players, and some bands issue these tapes as a novelty. [[Cheap Trick]]'s ''[[The Latest]]'' in 2009 was issued on 8-track, as was [[Dolly Parton]]'s ''[[A Holly Dolly Christmas]]'' in 2020, the latter with an exclusive bonus track.

== Technology ==
The cartridge's dimensions are roughly {{convert|5.25|x|4.0|x|0.8|in|cm}}. The magnetic tape is played at 3.75 inches per second (twice the speed of a cassette), is wound around a single spool, is about {{convert|0.25|in|cm}} wide and contains eight parallel tracks. The player's head reads two of these tracks at a time, for stereo sound. After completing a program, the head mechanically switches to another set of two tracks, creating a characteristic clicking noise.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 8-Track FAQ |url=https://8trackheaven.com/the-big-questions/8-track-faq/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210409220258/https://8trackheaven.com/the-big-questions/8-track-faq/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=9 April 2021 |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=8-Track Heaven |language=en-US}}</ref>

== History ==
=== Development===
{{uncited-section|date=July 2025}}
[[File:Quad 8 Track (white background).jpg|thumb|A blank compatible Stereo-Quadraphonic 8-track cartridge]]
[[File:Unitape-8-track-recordimg-cartridge.jpg|thumb|Blank cartridges could be used to make recordings at home.]]

Inventor George Eash came up a design in 1953, called the [[Fidelipac|Fidelipac cartridge, or the NAB cartridge]],<ref>{{cite magazine|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BikEAAAAMBAJ&q=George+Eash+CARtridge+inventor+tells+how+it+was+born&pg=RA1-PA19 |title=George Eash CARtridge inventor tells how it was born |magazine=Billboard |date=3 March 1966 |volume=78 |issue=10 |access-date=26 January 2013 }}</ref> which would later be used in not only the Muntz [[Stereo-Pak]], but also in various monaural background music systems from the late 1960s to the early 1990s.

His inspiration came from one of the first products that used the [[endless tape cartridge]] technology, which was the Audio Vendor from a year earlier, an invention of [[Bernard Cousino]]. The tape is passed through an inner ring of loose tape reel, where the recording is stored, and looped back through the outer ring of the reel. Initially, this mechanism was to be implemented in a reel-to-reel audio tape recorder.

Later, Cousino developed a plastic case that could be mounted on some existing tape recorders. This cartridge was marketed by John Herbert Orr as Orrtronic Tapette. In this generation, the tape was wound with the magnetic coating facing the inside of the reel. Later cartridge types had the magnetic layer facing the outside of the reel, so it had to be played by a specially designed recorder. Once traction of the tape by capstan was added, users had the convenience of just pushing the cartridge into the recorder without having to thread the tape. These cassettes needed no internal space for the tape head slider because they accessed the tape from outside the cartridge.

Based on these new cassettes, George Eash developed the Fidelipac cartridge in 1954. [[PlayTape]] and the endless-loop compact cassettes for the announcement text of answering machines were made with this technique, as well along with other similar but incompatible answering machine tapes. The original separate take-up reel got a platter laid under the supply reel to combine the two and the perforation around the edge of the reel for traction was removed. No rear winding reel was inside such a cassette, so rewinding was impossible. Previously, a similar technique was used to store [[Tefifon]] grooved-vinyl sonic tape in the Tefi cartridge, but without the benefit of a reel due to the width being 16 mm, over twice that of an 8-track and due to the thickness of the film at 3 mils (75 μm).

Another similar technology was the LaBelle Tutor 16, which combined several endless-loop technologies at once. A 35 mm filmstrip was reduced to 16 mm and loaded into an endless-loop film cartridge similar to a Fisher Price Movie Viewer, which used silent truncated versions of 16 mm cartoons. The bottom of this cartridge acted as the top for the sound cartridge below it, which was basically identical to an 8-track. The only difference was the recording was the same two-track format as mono NAB carts at the same 3-3/4 IPS speed (9.5&nbsp;cm/s) as an 8-track with the program material on one track and the subsonic picture-change automation tone on the other track.

Films, both silent and sound, in 8 and 16 mm configurations, and in optical  or magnetic sound formats were also endless loops, used in applications from store end-cap sales tools to on-the-road engineering instructions to early portable airline movies. Instead of having any part of the mechanism located inside the cartridge, the only part located there was a 45° mirror to reflect the light through the film and onto either the internal frosted screen or an external screen by way of flipping another mirror in to redirect the picture.

=== Stereo 8 ===
[[File:Lear Jet Stereo 8 advertisement.png|thumb|Lear Jet Stereo 8 advertisement, ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' July 16, 1966]]
The Lear Jet Stereo 8 cartridge was designed by Richard Kraus while working for the [[Lear Jet Corporation]], under [[Bill Lear]], in 1963. The major change was to incorporate a neoprene rubber and nylon pinch roller into the cartridge itself, rather than to make the pinch roller a part of the tape player, reducing mechanical complexity. Lear also eliminated some of the internal parts of the Eash cartridge, such as the tape-tensioning mechanism and an interlock that prevented tape slippage. Because the Stereo-Pak cartridges were prone to jamming due to their complex design, Lear endeavored to redesign them, putting twice the number of tracks on them, doubling their recording time first to 80 minutes and then extending that to 100 minutes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~cochinea/html-paper/a-crews-03-magnetic-media.html |title=From Poulsen to Plastic: A Survey of Recordable Magnetic Media |website=The Cochineal |access-date=19 January 2016 |date=1 December 2003 |last=Crews |first=Andrew D. |archive-date=18 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218095921/https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~cochinea/html-paper/a-crews-03-magnetic-media.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Discrete Quadraphonic 8-track ===
Four-channel 8-tracks were distinguishable by the notch in the upper left hand corner as in the picture to the right. Blanks such as this one were sold with a white spacer occupying the notch the same as [[45 rpm adapter]] were sold to convert 7-inch (19&nbsp;cm) large-hole singles so that they could be played on conventional turntables. This notch activated the second set of tracks on the new head, which would have originally played programs 3 and 4 of a stereo tape and used them simultaneously with heads that would read programs 1 and 2.

Tapes were first marketed for the fall 1970 music season. Oddly, the last [[Stereo-Pak]] four ''track'' Muntz cartridge tapes (vs four ''channel'' quadraphonic) were still being produced at the same time, as were regular Stereo 8 tapes.

=== Time limitations ===
Going back to using the same amount of tape for an album as a Stereo-Pak was a little annoying to consumers because "Two Albums on One Tape for the Same Low Price (as an LP)" was now impossible. Quadraphonic issues of double albums on 8-track had to occupy two or even (in the case of classical music) three tapes.

If an album ran over 50 minutes, half the time that could be recorded on a Stereo 8-track, and not enough program material remained to justify a second tape, producers would edit or eliminate some songs to make the album fit the 25-minute-per-program time limit. Commercial recordings were going back to a slightly smaller version of the same truncated program problems that plagued 2-track stereo tapes 20 years earlier. Quadraphonic cassettes were experimented with starting in 1974, but never gained a toehold until cassette portastudios established themselves 10 years later just before digital took off.

=== Commercial success ===
[[File:1967 Marlin gold ny-inf.jpg|thumb|right|Factory-optional 8-track stereo player in a 1967 [[American Motors]] [[Rambler Marlin|Marlin]] mounted between the [[Center console (automobile)|center console]] and dash]]
[[File:1978 AMC Matador sedan red NC detail of factory AM-FM-stereo-8-track unit.jpg|thumb|Factory-installed AM/FM radio/8-track unit in a 1978 [[AMC Matador]] with a ''[[Briefcase Full of Blues]]'' cartridge in "play" position]]
The popularity of both four-track and eight-track cartridges grew from the booming automobile industry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.videointerchange.com/audio_history.htm |title=Vintage Audio Recording History |publisher=Videointerchange.com |date=10 May 2012 |access-date=27 January 2013 }}</ref> In September 1965, the [[Ford Motor Company]] introduced factory-installed and dealer-installed eight-track tape players as an option on three of its 1966 models (the sporty [[Ford Mustang|Mustang]], luxurious [[Ford Thunderbird|Thunderbird]], and high-end [[Lincoln (automobile)|Lincoln]]),<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/01/25/archives/some-help-from-debussy-for-the-hassled-driver.html|title=Some Help From Debussy For the Hassled Driver |last=Despagni |first=Anthony J.|date=1976 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2017-09-29 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and RCA Victor introduced 175 Stereo-8 Cartridges from its RCA Victor and RCA Camden labels of recording artists catalogs.<ref name="Billboard Sep 1965">{{cite magazine |title=RCA Fires 175-Title Burst with Release of Stereo 8 Cartridges | magazine=Billboard |volume=77 |issue=39 |page=3 |date=25 September 1965 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HCkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3 |issn=0006-2510 |access-date=27 January 2013 }}</ref> By the 1967 model year, all of Ford's vehicles offered this tape player upgrade option. Most of the initial factory installations were separate players from the radio (such as shown in the image), but [[dashboard]] mounted 8-track units were offered in combination with an AM radio, as well as with AM/FM receivers.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JHVaQFDrx_MC&q=AMC+AM/8-track+stereo+tape+player&pg=RA1-PT16 |page=73 |last=Mitchell |first=Larry G. |title=AMC Muscle Cars | year=2000 |publisher=MBI Publishing |isbn=978-0-7603-0761-8 |access-date=26 January 2013 }}</ref>

The 8-track format gained steadily in popularity because of its convenience and portability. Home players were introduced in 1966 that allowed consumers to share tapes between their homes and portable systems. By the late 1960s, the 8-track segment was the largest in the US consumer electronics market (Low UK and European sales as Compact Cassette was released 1962) and the popularity of 8-track systems for cars helped generate demand for home units.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sgoEAAAAMBAJ&q=8-track+segment+of+this+booming+market+is+by+far+the+largest&pg=RA1-PA32 |title=8-track market booms |first=Oscar P. |last=Kussisto |magazine=Billboard |date=2 November 1968 |access-date=23 April 2014}}</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2022}} "Boombox" type portable players were also popular, but eight-track player/recorders failed to gain wide popularity and few manufacturers offered them except for manufacturer Tandy Corporation (for its [[Radio Shack]] electronics stores). With the availability of cartridge systems for the home, consumers started thinking of eight-tracks as a viable alternative to 33 rpm album-style [[vinyl record]]s, not only as a convenience for the car. Also by the late 1960s, prerecorded releases on the 8-track tape format began to arrive within a month of the vinyl release. The 8-track format became by far the most popular and offered the largest music library of all the tape systems in the US.<ref>{{cite magazine|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5ikDAAAAMBAJ&q=Eight-track+by+far+the+most+popular+offers+the+largest+music+library&pg=PA128 |title=The best tape system for you |first=Sam |last=Shatavsky |magazine=Popular Science |date=February 1969 |pages=126–129 |volume=194 |issue=2}}</ref>

=== Early karaoke machines ===
[[Daisuke Inoue]] invented the first karaoke machine in 1971 called the Juke-8.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Raftery |first1=Brian |title=Don't Stop Believin': How Karaoke Conquered the World and Changed My Life |date=2008 |publisher=Da Capo Press |location=Boston, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0306815836 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/dontstopbelievin00raft}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mitsui |first1=Tōru |last2=Hosokawa |first2=Shūhei |title=Karaoke around the world: global technology, local singing |date=1998 |publisher=Routledge |location=London; New York |isbn=9781280140877 |pages=29–42}}</ref>

=== Other uses ===
In 1968, [[Sega]] released an arcade [[electromechanical game]] ''MotoPolo'', which used an 8-track player to play back the sounds of the motorbikes.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=28 June 2020 |title=セガ60周年スペシャルインタビュー。伝説の筐体R360や『バーチャファイター』などアーケード開発者が開発秘話をたっぷり語る！ |trans-title=Sega 60th Anniversary Special Interview: Arcade developers of the legendary chassis R360 and "Virtua Fighter" tell a lot of development secrets! |url=https://www.famitsu.com/news/202006/28200872.html |access-date=18 April 2021 |magazine=[[Famitsu]] |language=ja}}

* {{cite web |author=B Clark |date=2020-06-14 |title=Arcade Developers Talk Sega's History of Taking On Challenges |url=http://www.onemillionpower.com/arcade-developers-talk-segas-history-of-taking-on-challenges/ |website=One Million Power}}</ref>

[[Milton Bradley Company|Milton Bradley]]'s [[OMNI Entertainment System]] was an electronic quiz machine game first released in 1980, similar to ''[[Jeopardy! (video game)|Jeopardy!]]'' or later entries in the [[You Don't Know Jack (franchise)|''You Don't Know Jack'' video game series]], using 8-track tapes for questions, instructions, and answers, using audio playback as well as digital signals in [[magnetic-tape data storage]] on remaining tracks to load the right answer for counting the score. In 1978, the [[Mego Corporation]] launched the [[2-XL]] toy robot, which utilized the tracks for determining right from wrong answers.<ref>[[Techmoan]]: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyOKgLtUxto MB OMNI Entertainment System - The 1980s 8-Track games machine], YouTube, 6 August 2017</ref> In 1977, the Scottish company GR International released the Bandmaster Powerhouse, a drum machine that played back custom-made 8-track cartridges similar to a [[Mellotron]] or [[Chamberlin]] Music Master containing drum and percussion rhythm loops recorded with real instruments. These could be subjected to a degree of processing using the drum machine's controls, which included tempo and instrument balance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vintagesynth.com/grinternational/bandmaster-powerhouse/|title=GR International Bandmaster Powerhouse {{pipe}} Vintage Synth Explorer|website=www.vintagesynth.com}}</ref>

===Decline===
In the United States, 1978 was the peak year for 8-track sales, with sales declining rapidly from then on.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/|title = U.S. Sales Database| publisher=[[Recording Industry Association of America]] }}</ref> Eight-track players became less common in homes and vehicles in the late 1970s, dwarfed by the [[compact cassette]] (which arrived in 1963).<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://southtree.com/blogs/artifact/the-convenience-of-the-cassette |title=The History of the Audio Cassette |website=Southtree |access-date=2019-12-15}}</ref> By 1980, the eight-track was already being phased out in favor of cassettes,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harrington |first=Richard |date=1980-06-15 |title=The Record Industry Goes To War On Home Taping |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/06/15/the-reocrd-industry-goes-to-war-on-home-taping/80be4100-3fa2-4f73-8999-1efb6dd282d9/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> whose sales were rapidly increasing partly due to the success of the [[Walkman]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Palmer |first=Robert |date=1981-07-29 |title=THE POP LIFE; CASSETTES NOW HAVE MATERIAL NOT AVAILABLE ON DISKS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/29/arts/the-pop-life-cassettes-now-have-material-not-available-on-disks.html |access-date=2024-05-06 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and eventually caught up and dethroned [[LP record|LPs]] by 1983.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Salmans |first=Sandra |date=1983-03-29 |title=SALES OF RECORDS ON THE RISE |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/29/business/sales-of-records-on-the-rise.html |access-date=2024-05-06 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In the U.S., eight-track cartridges were phased out of retail stores in late 1982 and early 1983, but some titles were still available as eight-tracks through [[Columbia House]] and RCA (BMG) Music Service record clubs until late 1988. Until 1990, [[Radio Shack]] (Tandy Corporation) continued to sell blank eight-track cartridges and players for home recording use under its [[Realistic (brand)|Realistic]] brand.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1990/ |title=1990 Radio Shack Catalog |website=www.radioshackcatalogs.com|access-date=17 March 2017|archive-date=9 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809115404/http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1990/|url-status=dead|date=1990}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[PlayTape]]
* [[HiPac]]
* [[Stereo-Pak]]
* [[Album era]]
* [[Timeline of audio formats]]
* [[Sound recording and reproduction]]
* [[Birotron]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120716213104/http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~cochinea/html-paper/a-crews-03-magnetic-media.html "A Survey of Recordable Magnetic Media"] by Andrew D. Crews, December, 2003, University of Texas, accessed 8 August 2006
* ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114483/ So Wrong They're Right]'' - A 1995 documentary about 8-track enthusiasts
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/19981205220126/http://www.8trackheaven.com/ 8-Track Heaven]}}
* [http://myotherstuff.com/entertainment/music/8-track-moments.html 8-Track Moments] Listen to the sound of the 8-Track click
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140222224431/http://recording-history.org/HTML/8track4.php ''Bill Lear Invents the 8-Track and Brings in Ford, Motorola, and RCA Victor'']. Recording History.org

{{Audio format}}
{{Music technology}}

[[Category:Audiovisual introductions in 1964]]
[[Category:Audio storage]]
[[Category:History of sound recording]]
[[Category:Tape recording]]
[[Category:Discontinued media formats]]
[[Category:Quadraphonic sound]]
[[Category:American inventions]]
[[Category:1964 in music]]
[[Category:1964 in technology]]
[[Category:Products introduced in 1964]]
[[Category:1970s fads and trends]]