8 track tapes

[gmoney]

I was cleaning out some stuff in the basement today, and came across a container of old 8 track tapes.

I imagine there are some Jubbers here who don't even know what 8 tracks are!


What amazed me was some of the music.

I had a Jefferson & Starship tape.

The debut album from Boston

and even an 8 track from Captain and Tenille!

 

[BINOWGAYLATER]

G-MON babe - you can't have a battle of witts with an unarmed person.

I too have a closet full of ....ummm......old music -- whew- that was close...... but i dont think i have a 8 track player anymore.. but i do have a lovely Girrard turntable - circa 1964 -- it still works !!

 

[G-Lexington]

Oh, and 8-tracks. I own one just for laughs. It's Starland Vocal Band.

I have a friend who collects them. He has a whole room in his house just for his 8-tracks and 8-track players. He especially likes tracking down 8-tracks from the very end of their existence. I think his "newest" 8-track comes from 1986. His holy grail is "Rattle & Hum" by U2, supposedly the very last 8-track to be pressed.

Lex

 

[gmoney]

I never even seen a 8 track tape irl before.

Kind of looks like this:

 

[G-Lexington]

No, g - that's an 8-track PLAYER.

This is an 8-track tape.

Lex

 

[Críostóir]

To be on topic, I never owned any 8-track tapes that I recall. Wait, I had one...don't remember what it was (while my life goes back that far, my memory does not, and you kids get offa my lawn), but I only played it in friends' cars, because I definitely never owned an 8-track player.

I have quite a bit of vinyl, even though I no longer have a turntable. Some of my vinyl has never been converted to CD (like the performances of Orff's Trionfo di Afrodite and Penderecki's Passio et Mors Domini Nostri Secundam Lucam that I find definitive), much less available on iTunes. My plan is to get a converter system from ThinkGeek.com and fix that, but I keep getting square toits.

 

[Críostóir]

As a young teen I was so proud to own my first ever record album:

The J. Giles Band - Piss on the Wall.

I thought I was so damn cool 'cause I had a record that said "Piss" on it

What a dork *facepalm*

Anyone who wasn't a total dork during at least part of hir adolescence never really had one.

 

[USEDCAR]

Lets get back on topic please

I seen 8 track tapes at goodwill before

i still listen to tapes and watch video tapes i have a tape player on my computer desk and every tv i own has a vcr hook up to it

 

[wastingmymind]

Isn't it weird that 8 track tapes are still being made but VHS tapes aren't?

 

[BINOWGAYLATER]

Lets get back on topic please

I seen 8 track tapes at goodwill before

i still listen to tapes and watch video tapes i have a tape player on my computer desk and every tv i own has a vcr hook up to it

USEDCAR I love it when you talk dirty !

Say something about cassettes' and I'll cream right now!

 

[USEDCAR]

USEDCAR I love it when you talk dirty !

Say something about cassettes' and I'll cream right now!

i remember before mp3 players i used to have 4 tapes in my pocket and a walk man in my fanny pack and i used to go to school like that every single day.

L!O!L did you cream?!

 

[cocktales]

(Wastingmymind)........I don't think anyone said anything about them making 8-track tapes any longer; or perhaps I mis-read the thread.......

It was said that a box of "old" tapes were found in his basement, me thinks?

**Anyone know what year/years the 8 track tape was considered obselete?

 

[Yooper]

(Wastingmymind)........I don't think anyone said anything about them making 8-track tapes any longer; or perhaps I mis-read the thread.......

It was said that a box of "old" tapes were found in his basement, me thinks?

**Anyone know what year/years the 8 track tape was considered obselete?

The obsolete nature of 8 tracks is about as clear as mud.

Last cartridges

In the U.S., eight-track cartridges were phased out of retail stores by late 1982 (having disappeared from Europe about four years prior). Some titles were still available as eight-track tapes through record clubs until late 1988. Many of these late-period releases are highly collectible because of the low numbers that were produced. Among the most rare is Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas Flood. Another is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Live/1975-85, which was one of the very few boxed sets to be released on vinyl, cassette, compact disc, and eight-track tape.
There is a debate among collectors about the last commercial eight-track released by a major label, but many agree it was Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits in November 1988.[2] The last eight-track tapes by major recording companies were from record and tape clubs in 1988 like RCA (BMG Music) and Columbia House (CRC). There are reports of bootleg eight-track tapes being made in Mexico as late as 1995.[3] Some independent artists still release eight-track tapes.[4] Also, bands sometimes release eight-tracks as special releases; for example, The Melvins released a limited-time, live eight-track album.[5] and Cheap Trick issued a limited edition version of their 2009 album The Latest on the format. Apart from a selected group of highly collectible artists, the record club issues, and the quadraphonic releases, many eight-track tapes seem to have limited value to most collectors, especially if the tapes have been misused or appear to be worn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_tape

 

[rareboy]

No 8 tracks, we only ever had about 5 or 6,but I just spent Sunday reshelving all of our vinyl, CD's and mixed cassettes. We only kept about 1000 of our best and favourite vinyl pressings some years ago and I don't have the heart to pitch the cassettes although we haven't listened to any of them in over a decade. And then there's the section of video.

Even our CD collection looks like cuneiform tablets.

 

[SonOfSlobone]

*sigh* fond memories of driving around with my first bf listening to 8 tracks -- all his -- soundtrack from Dr. Zhivago, The Carpenters Greatest Hits -- not the hippest guy in the world...

 

[Yves]

A few 8 tracks are collectors item. Check out The 8-Track Hall of Fame in case you have a hard to find title:
http://www.8trackheaven.com/hallfame.html

This Sinatra 8-track was sold for $4500 on eBay in June 2006. Story behind this release:

"All that was ever produced by this collaboration between Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim was a vinyl test pressing and 3,500 8-Tracks. After this Sinatra/Jobim collaboration was cancelled (for reasons unknown to me), a memo was issued by Warner ordering the destruction of all but three copies of the 3,500 8-track tapes that had been manufactured of this release. Warner sent this memo to all the retailers and distributors for all the unsold copies, and they even went so far as attempting to get back all the SOLD copies as well, by issuing a recall! Whether or not their efforts were successful are to this day unknown, but there are fewer than 5 copies of the tape known to exist".
http://www.8trackheaven.com/sinatra.html

I have quite a bit of vinyl, even though I no longer have a turntable. Some of my vinyl has never been converted to CD (like the performances of Orff's Trionfo di Afrodite and Penderecki's Passio et Mors Domini Nostri Secundam Lucam that I find definitive), much less available on iTunes. My plan is to get a converter system from ThinkGeek.com and fix that, but I keep getting square toits.

Jochum''s version of Il Trionfo is available on iTunes and Deutsche Grammophon store (320k plus PDF booklet):
http://www2.deutschegrammophon.com/...IN_XXPQ=&sort=newest_rec&javascript=1&x=0&y=0

Penderecki's catalogue on iTunes (US) is very limited. Are you looking for Penderecki's own recording of St Luke Passion (originally released by Argo/Decca)? Penderecki's digital version is available in Europe in case you're interested. Qobuz, a French digital store has it on both 320 and lossless formats:
http://www.qobuz.com/telechargement...t/fiche_produit/id_produit-0002894303282.html

 

[Ontariobear]

The problem at the time was that the track switched right in the middle of some of the songs, there are a couple Three Dog Night songs that still sound "wrong" when they're played without the track change part way through. Whereas a cassette or LP had the entire song(s) on the A side or B side without being split up.

 

[biguy732]

You just go and put those 8-tracks next to my Betamax player on the console TV. I have my 8-track player around here somewhere.

 

[Lube]

My older siblings had 8-tracks, but my "modern" stereo in my teenage years had a cassette player/recorder (Teac, with dbx noise reduction, even!).

On their 8-tracks I remember Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Joe Walsh, America, and Crosby Stills & Nash.

 

[CGHJ]

I'm old enough to remember having an 8-track player in the car. Don't remember what we had on tape though.

The best part is hearing about the old tunes you guys find on them, Captain and Tenille! I used to love them LOL.

I was in a store in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and they were still selling blank Betamax tapes as late as 1995.

I have a bunch of cassette tapes now that are pretty close to as obsolete as 8-tracks. I still have an old cassette player sitting in the corner that I could hook up if I wanted to, but I already all those tunes downloaded from iTunes.

I have a bunch of VHS porn that I don't watch anymore, just because it would be too much of a pain to hook up the VCR, which is on the closet.

Someday soon I imagine the youth of today will find a collection of old CDs and DVDs in their closets and go 'remember these?!"