The 8 Track

Well , there are many arguments about the declining sales in Music. Free Downloading, or as my friend Dave says "kids just have more things to do today" i.e. video games, myspace, you tube, etc.

EDIT:
In the Seventies it was impossible for Parents to get their kids in the house and now they just keep inventing stuff to prevent them from leaving...Although I have to add that it was during this period that Television did find its true calling; The Perfect Babysitter...cringe...

I never feel really bad or cry too many tears for the Music Industry because they introduced so many formats over the years and everytime a new format was introduced we all had to go and buy the same record over and over to get it in the latest format. I think I have bought Ziggy Stardust, Rubber Soul, and many others in 4 formats
and 5 times because of 2 different cd versions.

(Vinyl, 8 Track, Cassette, CD, remastered CD w/ Bonus Tracks) and now we have the Digital Download...what's next?

You might assume because of my rant against the Music Industry I am going to damn the 8 Track straight to hell...
You're wrong.

The 8 track cartridge was a plastic shell that held a continious loop. Records were divided into 4 programs that held about 3-5 songs per program. You could click and switch programs and go to different sections of an album or let the album play over and over until you stopped the machine.

The 8 Track tape was actually a really cool development and while it didn't last there was something really aesthetically beautiful about this. I even owned the machine you see in this Panasonic ad. The 8 track was developed in the 60's, but became really affordable and vogue in the 70's. Samplers and pop collections were really served well by this.

One of the strange things about the 8 Track was although you couldn't fast forward or rewind in a traditional sense, you could if you learned a record well, switch to a program with a certain portion of the record to get to another. This became like a game if you learned to do it well. I'd be interested to know if this was some stupid game only I played or if others did this as well.

I miss the 8 track. While it's lasting cultural significance is sadly null...

I do have to give it 4 out of 5 nerf footballs for the pleasure it gave me in my youth. Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle" still rings in my ears when I think of it.



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