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Wednesday, April 6, 2016

A to Z Challenge - 2016

E is for...

Eight track tape:

According to Wikipedia, eight tracks were formerly called Stereo 8 and were a magnetic tape sound recording technology that was popular in the mid-60's to late 70's when the Compact Cassette format took over.

This is what they looked like:


Some people had them in their cars.  I did not.  In fact, by the time I was able to drive and get a car, cassette tapes had already started to take over. 






I never owned any eight tracks.  I remember my sister and brother-in-law had them and when I would babysit my nephews sometimes I would listen to them.

It seems to me that eight track tapes weren't around very long, but maybe that's because I never owned any. 

At any rate, that's my "E" in the A to Z Challenge.  Guess you can tell some letters are going to be longer than others.  Keeping up?  We have a way to go!      

Did you have eight tracks?  Still have them?  Love to hear about it.


12 comments:

  1. I had a couple eight track tapes, but they were bootleg. They played in a continuous loop of not-so-wonderful quality sound. No surprise, huh?

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    1. I seem to remember that they always sounded scratchy. Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. No eight tracks for me. I've heard it's getting quite difficult to find cassette tape players now so I imagine its near impossible to find an 8-track player.

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    1. To true. Seems to me that cassettes have been around longer than eight tracks though.

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  3. Yep, had some of those and played them in our GTO. Perfect for some Beach Boys music. They are easy finds at Flea Markets, but hard to find a player for them. Cassettes are the only music from that era I have left...again hard to find a player with good sound. It's all about CD's and Iphone music...which I don't do. Thanks for the memories!

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    1. Little GTO...I remember that well. Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. HA - blast from the past! I remember songs being divided between the tracks. Nobody would put up with that today.
    Repaying the visit from AtoZ
    Wendy
    Jollett Etc.

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    1. Not at all! My iPhone syncs with my new car so I just let it play whatever it wants!

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  5. My parents had tons of eight tracks! One peculiarity: Sometimes, a song would be interrupted from one track to the next. It would fade out, and fade back in.

    Glad I found you through the A to Z Challenge!

    Eli@CoachDaddy (#1207)

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  6. My brother had 8 track tapes! By the time I started driving a few years later, cassette tapes were the "rage"

    betty

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  7. I had a ton of 8-tracks! What a great classic rock collection I had on 8-tracks. I used to drive around and blast them from my '71 Monte Carlo. They sucked though. No wonder they didn't last. They'd switch tracks in the middle of a song, the tape would warp from overplay and then you'd have to use a pack of matches or rolling papers to wedge under the cartridge so the tape wouldn't drag during play. Ay-yi-yi, they were a mess!
    My brother tried to tell me to get cassettes because 8-tracks were on their way out but no, I just had to be like him and have the 8-tracks. In hindsight, I'm glad I did because they're so fun to talk about! :) Not to mention that it really dates me...

    Good one for E!

    Michele at Angels Bark

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I'd love to hear your thoughts!