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Old 25th Dec 2022, 3:10 am   #187
hamid_1
Heptode
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: High Wycombe, Bucks. UK.
Posts: 811
Default Re: What's good about tape?

I have a number of 'blank' recordable 8 track tapes from Memorex, Scotch, Realistic (Tandy / Radio Shack), Fuji Film and a British-made one branded Metrosound. Picture here: https://web.archive.org/web/20070206...k/blank_b2.jpg

And some of my recordable 8 track tape systems:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080723...k/8trakdex.htm
(I no longer have the Kyoto Supreme car player)

I also have a Lloytron music centre with turntable, radio and 8 track recorder not shown on that website. It can record from radio or turntable to 8 track tape. There were a few stereo systems that had both cassette and 8 track so you could choose your preference or copy from tape to tape. Tesco sold a 4-in-1 music centre called Winthrop President for around £175 in the late 1970s (hi-fi was a lot more expensive back then - even a basic mono cassette recorder cost £20). The Winthrop President music centre had stereo turntable, radio, cassette and 8 track although I think it was only possible to record to cassette; the 8 track unit was play-only.

8 track cartridge recorders were never as popular as cassette recorders. Recording on a cassette is a lot easier. You can see how much tape is remaining and you can fast forward or rewind to the exact point where you want to start from. Some 8 track decks had fast-forward but you couldn't easily tell where you were on the tape and going backwards on an 8 track cartridge is impossible by design.

In theory, the higher tape speed should have made the 8 track system better quality than cassette. However, as noted, cassette quality improved dramatically while 8 track stagnated. Very few 8 track machines had Dolby noise reduction. I never saw any chrome 8 track tapes either. The manufacturers didn't seem interested in improving 8 track quality. Presumably there wasn't enough demand from the buying public.
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