Uh-oh, here we go again, 8-tracks revisited! For some reason, super 8 and 8-tracks just seem to go together. Perhaps it's because both endeavours are equally maligned by the same people (that would include everybody, basically). So, since we are unashamed users of technology that most people think died when Andy Gibb passed away, let's have another look at this great pile of...MUSIC! People's memories of 8 tracks (and insert any other technology here) are often jaded by time and selective recall; like the recollection of old friends that have had a falling out. We typically only recall the bad times. The same is especially true for 8-tracks. Most folks recall it being a bad technology that went bust. But, like life on this planet, EVERYTHING is a BUST in the long run. Think super 8 cameras, 16mm school films, cassette tapes, VHS, DVD, BluRay, HDDVD, MP3s, etc.... And just to correct a few initial stereotypes, 8-tracks did NOT stretch - the continuous loop prevented that....but the smaller cassette tapes did stretch due to the very fast rewind and fast forward speeds. And let's not forget the autoreverse technology that required the tape to be under tension in order for the tape to reverse. Eight-track cassettes were most likely a victim of poor availability of technology compared to the later times (1980s) when the smaller cassette tapes came to dominate. Better electronics came along to aid their further dominance of recording technology, think Dolby and metal tapes here. Then came CDs in the early 1990s and the first thought was how to record from them - cassette tapes were not efficient because in order not to break the album, you had to have 90 minute tapes (45 minutes per side) and then the tape was too thin to be trustworthy in the car for extended use. But, back in the day, we were more concerned with colors and style. Space was not an issue. Check out Panasonic's noise maker, the "Dynamite 8" (RQ-830S) TNT-style 8-track player. Today we would compare its use to Apple's iPod. It came in Explosion Yellow (shown), Bomb Blue, and Detonator Red. Politically, you probably couldn't even sell these today. Other variants included clear and white. Guess what, like some super 8 cameras, it only has two controls: VOLUME and PUSH. That's right, it does not even advance the tape to the next track without some form of user intervention. No headphone, or should I say earphone, jack. Takes the most useless type of batteries still being sold: C-cells! Six of them. Also available was the optional 12-volt adapter for the car in case you wanted to take your music along with you. Remember, smaller cassette tapes in the car were non-existent back in 1970... Once you push that Andy Gibb tape in, you are in for a wonderful surprise: uncontrollable music! No ability to fast forward, no rewind (never could with 8-tracks) and perhaps most importantly for most of you reading this, no STOP button either. Oh, if you do want to change tracks, you must detonate the tape, or should I say, press the plunger. Life was simple back in 1972... Like super 8, the 8-track format is much maligned and was basically a victim of poor or non-existent quality control efforts on the part of manufacturers. Think of someone back in the day saying, "Hey, let's have a single 1/4-inch tape moving at 3 3/4 inches per second with 2-channel stereo music on it. And, let's move the playback head 4 times per music album so that we only need 1/4 the amount of tape!" The engineers who responded to this challenge must have been also-rans from NASA who wanted their very own moon mission. But they did figure out how to do it, much to most people's dismay. Speaking of dismay, like super 8 with its poor plastic pressure plate in each film cartridge, the 8-track suffered from having a single playback head for 4 sets of stereo tracks. It would have been better to have 4 heads, one for each pair of tracks. But, that would make the cartridges super wide and the playback units even bigger than they already were... So there you have it, the only user-friendly control on the Panasonic 8-track player: the volume dial. The plunger takes some effort to push, not a lot but enough, and when it sits on my shelf, I can't change tracks so I simply listen to two and a half of Andy Gibb's songs over and over again... Why two and a half? Well, lest you forget or more likely did not know, 8-tracks are a continuous loop tape that is only 1/4 the length of what it would be if each song followed sequentially on the tape. You see, the 4 tracks are parallel to each other so what the record companies did to save some tape was to fade out half a song on one track, then fade in the song at the beginning of the next track. Notice Heart's Nada One split between tracks! Record companies that had a conscience re-shuffled the songs to avoid this. Some companies even went so far as to put a song on the 8-track twice if it was cut in half - making sure you got a complete version. But, my trusty Trooper tape cut a HIT song, The Boys in the Bright White Sportscar, between tracks one and two. Perhaps they thought that it was not going to be a hit song? Let's just say it does not help me impress friends and family with continuous loop technology when a song fades out only to reintroduce itself after a short pause! Below, you see my prized $20 flea market find: Reference: 708D by Quadraflex. It's an 8-track player with the dubious distinction of being one of the very few, if not the only one, with a completely black face (dark blue pewter perhaps). Sure it has "vinyl wood grain" sides but they are not viewable in a rack setup! I think this is one of the very last 8-track units ever designed. Interestingly, to me at least, was the dog-tracking this deck was doing when I first played it. No wonder the guy was laughing when I bought it. OK, both him and you, the reader, were laughing...but I digress. But those two tracks playing concurrently with reduced output on the meters would not be around for long. With my giant tool chest for working on cars, I was certain a few of the smaller tools could be useful with this deck. Of course, the great thing about 1970s technology is that you can probably fix it yourself or at least break something knowingly. I opened her up, discovered the set screw that moved the playback head up and down and turned it about 3/4 to one full turn clockwise (tightening it) and voila, perfect tracking with no background secondary track heard during the silent parts (even cassette tapes do this from time to time). What generally happens is the set screw works itself down after 30 years of pressing something against the grain. The tape counter just needs a new belt so I may get to that one day...once I can break myself away from playing my 8 tracks for a 1/2 hour or so - no, I won't stop now! Here's another portable unit by General Electric. Yup, it only plays 8-tracks. No radio, no shortwave, no nothin'. It puts out quite the loud tone over my "explosion yellow" Panasonic unit and it also incorporated the advanced technology of automatically advancing the 8-track after each section, or track as they say in the business. The coolest part is that it lights up each number in a bright orange that screams "LEDs suck." Note the military styling - do you remember when this was all the rage? And get a load of those orange brightworks - and yes, that is a SHOULDER STRAP you see. Back in the day, you were supposed to walk with these things like purses I suppose. Ahhh, the 1970s... Here's a classic tape: Trooper's album "Two for the Show." I remember this as if it were yesterday (truth be told I play this tape everyday). Great great stuff. Since I grew up listening to this on CKLG AM730, no wonder 8-tracks sound so great! Now, before you all get excited and start buying 8-tracks yourself, there are a few things you need to know. Number one, most of the tapes are country tapes. But, once you get past that, life gets better for us trackers (not trekkers, those are Star Trek sci-fi folks). You do need to know how to inspect potential tapes to make sure they are worthy of your hardware. Specifically, watch out for those gooey black rollers. If you find a tape with that symptom, run for cover. Avoid it at all costs. It will ruin your system. Luckily most all tapes have either plastic or very solid rubber rollers. You also need to inspect and most likely replace the pads that allow the tape to press against the playback head. Like super 8, the industry left the most important aspect of quality control to the most vulnerable part of the technology, the individual cartridge. Kodak must have taken that out of the 8-track playbook back in the day. Scary isn't it.   But 8-tracks are easily fixed. Pads are available on the internet for about $7 for 50. You will also need some foil tape, splicing tape, and a block to line everything up on. You really need to change where the tape joins itself since they will tend to be brittle and break after 30 years. I have a pile of tapes waiting to be spliced. The good news is that my splicing supplies just arrived in the mail - about $35 for everything you need to last a lifetime. Most tapes can be opened easily by pushing open the little openings you see usually on the top side of the tape, sometimes underneath a label. On Heart's Dog and Butterfly 8-track above you can see the three tabs you need to push to CAREFULLY open the cartridge. Whatever you do, NEVER let the tape unravel. I tossed both a Led Zepplin and a Boston tape when those tapes got away on me. You have been warned! Always keep the bottom of the 8-track pointing down once you begin to open the cart. Some carts have the pins on the bottom side so on those you need to get it started with the topface down but once you get it going, turn it over. You can see why. Luckily, that endless loop spool is tapered but there is so much tape, even a little but of unraveling will make buying a new tape off the internet a much smarter idea and a more valuable use of your time. In this example, you can see I changed the foam pad. It now plays like a charm. Be sure not to squish the tape when you close it back up again. You may find if a tape is badly worn, tracks 1 and 4 are the worst while tracks 2 and 3 play rather well. This is due to the placement of the tracks on the tape - tracks 1 and 4 are on the edges while tracks 2 and 3 are in the middle. Just something to consider. Here are some wonderful examples of analog sounds you just can't get anywhere else: Diana Ross (with the whole "Love Hangover" on track two), Soundtrack to Convoy (with the movie version of the song, not like the one you hear on the radio), Stevie Wonder's Talking Book (Superstition on track 1 is sublime), etc. Not pictured, since it just came in the mail, is The Marshall Tucker Band's Greatest Hits. Fire on the Mountain and Can't You See have never sounded so good!               And here are the two quintessential tapes you simply must have for your 8 track player, Grease and Saturday Night Fever (with the rare live version of Jive Talkin'). Those and perhaps a few Shaun Cassidy tapes as well. Keep on truckin' or is that tracking? Hang loose. I'll be 10-10 on the side. I'm gone. Bye-bye. Michael Nyberg March 12, 2008 PS - Let's not forget "QUAD" tapes. Quad is short for quadraphonic (four channel) sound. Eight-tracks actually could do real quadraphonic sound because "quad" decks and their tapes (same tape, just a notch in the plastic housing) recorded four separate and distinct tracks of music on the 8 available tracks. In other words, an 8-track cassette with four programs of stereo (2 tracks) sound became an 8-track with two programs of quadraphonic (4 tracks) sound...very very cool. There were even some decks that had an Atari-like joystick to balance the sound...very very very cool.

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