8-Track Vs. Cassette

[eyg2181]

I saw another post about being "Brave enough to admit to playing 8 Tracks", and on that thread were a lot of people that still use them, and a lot of people bashing the format. I think it would be cool to see how many prefer the cassette over the 8 Track, or how many people prefer the 8-Track over the Cassette.

i was hoping to make this a poll, but i guess its only moderators that have access to the feature.

My vote goes to the 8-Track:thmbsp:

lets see what the AK community has to say on the subject.:yes:

 

[goldear]

8 track at its best can get up to about 13kHz, but most units are doing well to make it past 10KHz. Cassette at its best can do between 22kHz and 24kHz. A lower-end 80s vintage deck could typicaly do at least 15kHz. What exactly is there to debate?

 

[rito25]

8 track is the worst format I have ever heard.
Cassette wins.
Reel to Reel Pwns both.

 

[Cadillac Kid]

I keep looking at 8 track tapes at the thrift (might be fun to play with), but every one has a pressure pad that is mush.

Homer Simpson has an 8 Track in his car. Doh!

 

[jan_stevns]

8 track did'nt get much attention here in Scandinavia, having seen a few, it makes sense

 

[Fred Sanford]

8 track at its best can get up to about 13kHz, but most units are doing well to make it past 10KHz. Cassette at its best can do between 22kHz and 24kHz. A lower-end 80s vintage deck could typicaly do at least 15kHz. What exactly is there to debate?

I could actually deal with limited frequency response if the speed would stay consistent...8-tracks always had too much wow & flutter for me to ever tolerate them.

je

 

[Tripqzon]

8-Track is to audio what Windows ME is to computers.

 

[AnalogDigit]

Cassettes all the way. Never really got into 8 tracks. They were a pain to record on, but my brother was an expert at fitting the right number of songs onto a program.

 

[spartanmanor]

To continue to use one would be for nostalgic purposes only. I remember a friend of mine in the 80's had one just for the humor of it. You could still pick up tapes easily back then for pennies on the dollar. I still remember listening to the Beatles, Blue album and that chunka chunka chunk as tracks switched.

 

[rustycat]

What about the annoyance of having the tape change channels in the middle of a song? 8-track sux!

 

[TAGO MAGO]

I tried out the 8-track format and I was not too impressed. The tapes were a pain to record on and even worse to work on if something would go wrong. Most use a type of pressure pad that would quickly disintegrate and the actual tape path and mechanism would cause extreme wear on the tape. I actually had a Realistic deck with Dolby that was okay, but a long way from what a cassette could do.

My vote goes to cassettes.

 

[slow_jazz]

I had a Mustang that had a factory 8 track player.... It was a great concept 4 different songs at the touch of a button but they had no rewind on them and my tape player would eat them up a lot...

Not a good product....

 

[clydeselsor]

8 track is the worst format I have ever heard.
Cassette wins.
Reel to Reel Pwns both.

I have to agree...

 

[Markw]

that's a little apples to oranges, isn't it?

8 track is the worst format I have ever heard.
Cassette wins.
Reel to Reel Pwns both.

Technically true, but they don't offer the convience of either 8-tracks or cassettes and there weren't too many car or hand-carried porable units made that I can think of

 

[bshorey]

I saw another post about being "Brave enough to admit to playing 8 Tracks", and on that thread were a lot of people that still use them, and a lot of people bashing the format. I think it would be cool to see how many prefer the cassette over the 8 Track, or how many people prefer the 8-Track over the Cassette.

i was hoping to make this a poll, but i guess its only moderators that have access to the feature.

My vote goes to the 8-Track:thmbsp:

lets see what the AK community has to say on the subject.:yes:

8 tracks had two serious design flaws working against them. First, the heads move, which means that eventually they're going to go out of alignment (many decks played across tracks over time). Second, the tape is in constant motion against itself, over time it's going to wear, and also demagnetize itself.

I just never saw it as a viable long term format. For me, cassette wins.

My .02,

bs

 

[jblnut]

8 track - with 2 changes, could have been spectacular. You had a nice wide tape with 3 3/4 IIPS speed, but with moving heads and a continuous tape loop, it was doomed. All it needed was a fixed head, and a take-up reel inside the unit much like all modern DLT computer backup drives use. The later changes that came along for casette like metal tape and dolby/dbx could have really made an 8 track sing - provided it had fixed heads and a separate take up reel.

Too bad...another half-baked idea that was a few tweaks short of actually being a decent product...


jblnut



QUOTE=bshorey;3144621]8 tracks had two serious design flaws working against them. First, the heads move, which means that eventually they're going to go out of alignment (many decks played across tracks over time). Second, the tape is in constant motion against itself, over time it's going to wear, and also demagnetize itself.

I just never saw it as a viable long term format. For me, cassette wins.

My .02,

bs[/QUOTE]

 

[eyg2181]

damn, i guess its because i never had to deal with them. (im 19). i just think they're neat, and always hated those cassette tapes. ive never seen a reel to reel, so i cant really say to much on the subject, but honestly my preference are tied with CD and Vinyl.

yea, ive heard 8 tracks that sound like crap, and have heard players make a good tape sound bad, however, i have heard 8 track players that would make a good tape sound like FM or Cassette.

i kinda figured cassettes would win, but i thought there'd be at least one person who would agree.

does everyone hate the 8-track format, or do you guys just like cassettes better?

Thanks for the responses, its interesting to see what people have to say on the subject.

 

[mhardy6647]

Sorry to manifest attitude... but I gotta say that the thesis of this thread (to my mind) is similar to asking: Who's hotter: Roseanne Barr or Tammy Faye Bakker?

I'm just sayin'.

;-)

 

[tomrich22]

LOL that was a good one

 

[jan_stevns]

damn, i guess its because i never had to deal with them. (im 19). i just think they're neat, and always hated those cassette tapes. ive never seen a reel to reel, so i cant really say to much on the subject, but honestly my preference are tied with CD and Vinyl.

yea, ive heard 8 tracks that sound like crap, and have heard players make a good tape sound bad, however, i have heard 8 track players that would make a good tape sound like FM or Cassette.

i kinda figured cassettes would win, but i thought there'd be at least one person who would agree.

does everyone hate the 8-track format, or do you guys just like cassettes better?

Thanks for the responses, its interesting to see what people have to say on the subject.

I don't think everyone hate 8track - think most just resigned and thought well , and that's that, nothing much to write home about .....

could the 8track system have been "better" - maybe, but that would have send the simplicity to kingdom come ... the simplicity IS the advantage of the 8track, and IS the reason for it's weakness, it had to be simple to work.

There has been some other attempts to make a similar system, none though reached the same acceptance..