8-Track Tapes
I came across a site the other day called 8-track, and I’m really enjoying it.
8-Track is a place where people upload their mix-tapes, and anyone can listen to them. It’s free, and it’s kinda cool. You can’t download anything. It’s all streaming. So we’re not breaking any laws.
I love mix-tapes. I make them with some frequency. I’ve played out entire relationships – or lack thereof – on mix tape. The one I’m posting in this link I listened to for the first time today. I like a couple of the songs very much, and appreciate the Ferris Bueller reference in the title. Ah, Ferris — he was a teenage James Bond.
The image to the left is the ‘cover’ of the mix-tape I’m posting. I dig the way that mix tapes give you a little view into a whole human. I’m pasting another mix here — you can embed the mixes, which is a cool facility fo the site.
I just googled ’8-tracks’ and found the following information on the site ‘BadFads’.
The 8-Track Tape player was developed by Jet plane developer Bill Lear as a car accessory. Lear wanted to give drivers an alternative to simply listening to radio stations and instead provide them with the ability to choose their favorite styles or artists. The players were manufactured by Motorola and were installed in several Ford automobiles and thousands of record companies rushed to put their artists on the new format.
While the format had a strong initial start, several major limitations pointed towards it’s quick demise. First, although the cartridges offered multiple tracks, the players did not offer the ability to browse forward or back through the tape. Second, the cheap components of the cartridges caused the tape material to fray and break, sending many users back to the record store to buy a replacement. Third, the audio performance was clearly subpar, with frequent fading of sound at inappropriate moments.
All I know is my grandmother had an 8-track, and I remember it being AWESOME, with much clearer sound than the radio.
