June 03, 2004
8-Track Heaven! Before iPod, mini-disc, CD, Walkman, Bonefone, and assorted crappy cassette players---the perfect accessory to a tricked out bubble-top Ford Van with Mag 600 wheels, dual pipes, and matching bongs...
Ah, nostalgia makes for great posts, doesn't it? (Then again, the same could be said about me and Bob Dylan...) NOT!
Would you hate me if I said I'd never so much as seen an 8-track before?
yes.
No.
Maybe.
After much meditation I'm afraid I still love you.
And anyway, I only vaguely remember 8-tracks from the heyday. As an audiophile, I have a love of old technology.
The 8-track didn't last long, anyway. Massive great big cartridges, they had.
Not a bad design, really, if rather large. Simpler, the better. And, in many ways, rather more superior to cassette tape in potential audio quality.
ThinkGeek has a cassette tape PC drive for sale, which is a damn good idea. But they need, NEED an eight-track equivalent.
I remember the 8-track era....but I don't miss it. The tapes were easy to repair and splice, it need be, but storage of the tapes was a hassle so not handy for travel. Sound quality wasn't bad. I have my collection of tapes intact but no player. Btw tracicle- no, no hate here :)
trac, they were ugly, hard to store, and seemed to get really dusty really fast.
(that said, my aunt and uncle had an 8-track player on their pontoon boat. lord, that was groovy.)
(same aunt and uncle had bedsheets featuring stick figures doing naughty naughty things.)
(oh how i love my aunt and uncle.)
8-tracks were pure evil. Most had the annoying habit of switching tracks mid-song, with a noticable gap in the audio. Cassettes were a godsend.
Jerry--Don't be so hard on yourself-- I though your post about Dylan was tres fascinating--only I wish the interviewer had asked ol' Bobby why his singing voice has been perceptively weirder through the years ("Ya Gotta Serve Somebody" is the last song I didn't need to have a lyric sheet to follow along with, and that was, what '80? '79?) AND why he makes such SHITTY movies (remember "Reynaldo and Clara"?)...
The 8-track didn't last long, anyway.
They were invented in 1956.
« Older Written by some American poet in the 20th century | Books, pictures, and more about China Newer »
To post comments to a thread you must login or create a profile.
