My 8-Track Collection!

Small but mighty! Let me know down in the comments what are some of YOUR favorite 8-Track tapes!

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[rwj]

I love my 8 track tapes! 😊 I own about 150 tapes and I still listen to them to this day. I have everything from Marvin Gaye, Rick James, Phil Collins, Teena Marie, The movie Car Wash soundtrack, Shaft soundtrack, original Superfly soundtrack feat. Curtis Mayfield, Culture Club, Michael Jackson, Al Green... just to name a few titles that I have on 8 track. Lol I also own two multi cartridge 8 track changers that can play multiple tapes back to back and one single tape 8 track player. I also enjoy to maintenance all my tapes when needed. I've dropped a few F bombs repairing some of them lol, but I still enjoy restoring my tapes. 👍🏾

[dennisdemark]

...love my 8-track tape collection...I have approximately 2000 plus and still collecting.
...love your channel.

[xaenon]

Recording on 8-Track isn't very straighforward - at least, not like open-reel or cassette.

For example: That 45-minute cartridge. It's actually only 11 minutes and 15 seconds per track.
To make the tape as 'professional' as possible, you generally want to organize your material to fit within each track without the track change taking place in the middle of the song (sometimes it can't be helped, but you try to avoid it if possible). Also, you want to lay it all out so that each track has a similar run time - so as to avoid an excessively long blank spot in one track.

So, if you're making an 8-Track from an LP, you try to divide the songs up in a way that results in four roughly equal-length groups. To make it fit on the cartridge, you try to find a cartridge that's four times the length of your longest track - if your longest track has 10 minutes worth of material, you try to find a 40 minute cartridge. I've known people to actually spool tape out of the cartridge and actually cut sections out of the tape specifically to avoid that long 'empty' spot at the end. Another trick, if you have enough tape to pull it off, would be to put another song in that blank spot.

Of course, you COULD just cram the tape into the machine, mass the 'REC' button, and let the machine do it all automatically, but it doesn't turn out as nice.

I've done some of that 'programming', and it's maddening how awkward it can be. Don't get me wrong, I loved the 8-Track, but it was not the easiest to work with on the 'production' side of things.

[jonathanterrebonne]

I wonder sometimes why they don’t create a modern version of the 8-Track player for home use with existing cartridges.

[Evan-tjte]

I remember when I was about three (1996-97) or so, my dad brought home his 8-track collection from his parents house. I remember staring intently at one in particular. I had no clue who it was and couldn't remember the name of the album for close to 14 years. All I could remember was the cover, and whenever I described it no one knew what I was talking about. I was at a record store in Fort Worth, TX all those years later and saw a box of 8-tracks. I casually started going through them, and lo and behold, there was the elusive 8-track. It was even sealed. I bought it for $1.00 and took it home. Three months later I got a player, and knew exactly what I was going to play in it. I pushed in the cart, it played for about a minute, and the tape broke. I'm case anyone was wondering, the album was Infinity, by Journey.

[xaenon]

I have a rather unusual fascination with the 8-Track. They were a thing when I was growing up, and by the time I was in my teens, the lowly 8-Track was on its way out the door. But 'nostalgia' isn't the big reason I am fascinated with them.

It's what they represent. A lot of people don't realize it, but the 8-Track (and its immediate ancestor, the Muntz Stereo-Pak) are the ONLY examples of a music format developed SPECIFICALLY for use in cars. Everything that before or since - the phonograph record, the cassette, the CD, digital - was developed for home use FIRST and then ADAPTED for use in cars.

And a lot of people don't realize what an engineering jewel the 8-Track really was. Okay, yes, it had its flaws, but it was a marvel in its day. To use it was simplicity itself - just pick out a cartridge and snap it into the player. Good-quality, STEREO sound at 70 miles per hour and you scarcely had to take your eyes off the road. No microprocessor needed. No fiddling with controls, other than the volume and maybe the track-select button.

The car-audio industry owes its existence to the 8-Track and the Muntz cartridge.

[nickbitten]

Nice to see 8- tracks getting more love. I come across 8-track tapes from time to time and buy them up, even 5hough my home unit is awaiting a service. Some bands are releasing albums on 8-track as a niche products once again. You have so many more 8-track player/ recorders in the U.S. but the prices are going up again, so getting one into the U.K. is costly. My favourite tapes condition- wise are ELO, Led Zeppelin, Rick Wakeman and Diana Ross. Keep smiling now.

[RileyTG]

That Carpenters album is impressive. I got the record and it’s a very good album.

[georgierockwood]

yes you can open all 8tracks shells to replace the pads & splices...in fact there are loads of companies that can repair your 8tracks.... Kates Track Shack in Texas is a great company that repairs 8tracks at great prices....theyve never stopped making 8tracks in fact I just bought the newest McCartney & Sting on 8track...I also just bought a brand new 8track/cd/usb combo deck...

[ACBMemphis]

I grew up with cassette as well, can't imagine giving up the rewind feature! One thing you might want to add to your collection is a quadraphonic 8 track. I just got the famous "Elvis Hawaii concert" on quad 8 track (picture in my latest video). A quad cartridge only has 2 programs instead of the usual 4, and features a special "detection notch" which instructs the player to route the rear tracks to separate line outputs simultaneously. Would like to get a player someday like the Technics RS-858 to play it, but those are rare and expensive....

[joshuac]

These are the videos I love! Thanks for the video👍

[paultidwell]

I pick them up at estate sales if I can get them cheap enough. I think I have over a 100 in my collection right now. My favorite might be my Star Wars soundtrack and the Star Wars moog album.

[TorontoJon]

I have a Sanyo 8-track player and recorder which I purchased from a reliable seller on eBay a few years ago and about a dozen or more tapes were included along with some blank recordable tapes. The unit works beautifully, but I don't buy a lot of 8-track tapes because the tape often does not survive as well as compact cassettes have survived over decades. They are fun though when they play properly. :)

[MrThecroatian]

Love the clip from "What About Bob?" That's one of my favorite Bill Murray movies. Keep up the good work.

[JrGoonior]

Just a quick comment on longevity. I have 8-tracks my dad recorded about 50 years ago and they still work and sound just like they did then.

[bradfordlewis]

I don't have an 8-track and have never had a player in any of my past vehicles. Nor do I plan to ever have an 8-track player or tapes. But more power to you for doing so at the (somewhat surprising to me) requests of your listeners. You've made it interesting.

[Asriazh]

When I buy 8-track tapes, it's always from a seller that claims to have check played the tapes and that replaced the cushioning foam and plice foil, if needed. Less headache that way and DIY repairing. But if you just buy it for the coolness factor or for display, that doesn't matter and you can still get 8-track tapes for very cheap. Tho the vintage audio recording trend went to cassette and now over to 8-track and things are getting more expensive, especially the better 8-track players/recorders that sometimes even have dolby noise reduction. tapes are a bit of a hit and miss too. Some are recorded very well, and some don't even have a proper track alignment and you hear faint audio from another track, tho all other tapes worked fine. It's still a fun format, i think :D

[saintmichael]

On the Eddy Arnold tape, there is a song called "Faithfully." Johnny Mathis has an album and a song "Faithfully" from 1959. "Very faithfully all night and day my love..." It was written by Burt Bacharach and Simon Shaw.

[plana]

I see them and I get them; the best way to describe my collecting of 8-Tracks. Sadly I keep breaking the shells due to the different designs, so maintenance isn't easy. As a rule I remember what is shown as being on the cartridge might not be what actually is it; just as with compact cassettes. My favourite are blank labelled (or home produced) ones. The surprise of the unknown is an added bonus here. Just as picking something by an artist you've never heard of before, it could be something new or it could be something you did know but didn't know it was by that artist or group!.

[dougbrowning]

I have a Super-Scope Marantz 8-Track recorder that still works, and a few Vintage tapes for it. Marantz was considered a high end brand in its day. Although you wouldn't know it by the construction of my deck. Looks no better inside than a Lloyd's. Super-Scope was the company that introduced wide screen movies in the 1950s. By the late 60s, they were into home audio.