I'm sure these artists will somehow survive.
Why are CDs the current hot topic?
- Thread starter H2oman7.62mm
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No, but I know where a Wire Recorder is. In a flea market! And I see 78rpm records often. Cassettes are back. RtRs seem to be coming back, but still no new ones on the market, though rumors surface now and then. (If new ones do show up, you would have to sell your house to get enough money to buy one!) New RtR tape is showing up, but it must have a gold backing!
I wasn't born when 8-track tapes were en vogue, so I have no feelings whatsoever towards them, but as far as I can work out they weren't that bad. Certainly much better than compact cassettes. Why do they get so much hate? OK, I get they were a bit big, especially when compared to the compacts, but apart from that I see only upsides to them. No rewind necessary, tape stored safely inside, and certainly the wide tape must have had much higher sound quality than those lousy compacts. So why does everyone hate them so badly?
I mean, people are OK with the resurgence of compact cassettes, which were utter crap, but at the same time they wish they'd never see an 8-track again. Why is that? Shouldn't it be the other way around?
It's a genuine question. I've never seen one in the flesh, so I'm genuinely curious.
I mean, people are OK with the resurgence of compact cassettes, which were utter crap, but at the same time they wish they'd never see an 8-track again. Why is that? Shouldn't it be the other way around?
It's a genuine question. I've never seen one in the flesh, so I'm genuinely curious.
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M70AB2
Well-Known Member
My cousin had an eight-track deck in his car. On a fishing trip to Minnesota, he had KISS -“Alive!” on a continuous loop. The KA-CHUNK in the middle of a song was annoying.
And there is the issue that the tape will eventually break as it’s pulled out of the center of the spool.
RunOutGroove
Addicted Member
I was around when tapes were really happening. It was maybe the tail end of the whole 8-track thing, but 8-tracks just seemed a bit silly to me, and something rendered totally obsolete by cassette tapes. Cassettes were far more compact, and as far as I know considered more of a high fidelity medium. The compact part of it was a pretty big deal too, because a briefcase sized case of cassettes in your car with the same number of 8-tracks would mean replacing something that fits under a seat with something that takes up a seat-worth of space.
8 tracks had/have lots of drawbacks. Everything from fidelity to function. There's lots of reasons 8 track has not/is not making a resurgence like all the other media formats seem to be.
They were a step forward in mobile audio, because before that you were looking mostly at LP's or Radio broadcasts.
But compact cassettes were a major leap forward from 8 track.
That being said, I still have some 8 track tapes and will often mess around with repairing them. But it's for sentimental reasons (ie: memories of me and dad) more than anything else.
They were a step forward in mobile audio, because before that you were looking mostly at LP's or Radio broadcasts.
But compact cassettes were a major leap forward from 8 track.
That being said, I still have some 8 track tapes and will often mess around with repairing them. But it's for sentimental reasons (ie: memories of me and dad) more than anything else.
intro6
Well-Known Member
Back in the 1960s though, it was different, from what I've read. During that period of time, it was the 8T that was better in audio quality compared to the cassette, which was originally designed for ordinary voice recording. By 1970 however, the writing was on the wall, and not long after that the improved cassettes arrived, along with the cassette decks that could take advantage of that improved quality. From then on it was steady improvements for the cassette, while the 8T stagnated, kept going only by it's existing momentum. Meanwhile car cassette players started replacing 8T ones, and the final blow was the development of auto-reverse for cassettes, which eliminated the one remaining advantage 8Ts had: the endless loop thing. Still, 8Ts kept being manufactured into the 1980s with the record clubs being the last to sell them. That's why people may be surprised to find out that Madonna albums, for example, were released on 8T (at least in the 1980s).
Marcel27
Active Member
I converted about 50% of my cd collection Into flac and store them on an external drive. Still have cd and listen to them and the sound is super. I started with vinyl and later I bought all my music on cd. I streamed the last 6 years music from Spotify but stopped using Spotify after they raised the abonnement €€. Now I have an account on bandcamp and buy my music in flac format. Sounds good and the artist get more paid from my purchase. Now, I buy for the same amount of money I had to pay for the monthly Spotify abo my music at bandcamp.
bolero
Super Member
If they have an 8 track in the next "guardians of the galaxy" movie, they might be huge again
the mixed tape in the 1st movie was a big cultural moment & drove cassette popularity back into mainstream
Late Boomer
Super Member
80 minutes with 3 breaks vs 90 minutes with one break? Compact cassette is more, well, compact. The sound quality is better. 8-track format was popular in the US for in-car music, while everywhere else compact cassette was used in small boomboxes and personal players.
To wit, the American "compact" cassette was almost as large as an LP.
I wonder whether Philips had to license a bunch of patents from RCA, because compact cassette is little more than the RCA cartridge, reduced in size.
20171229163252)
Wow, check out this thing:
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See the article on the Hagerty website.
Have you watched So Wrong They're Right (1995) ?
You can stream it, or you can download it. You can even record it on a VHS VCR to obtain your own physical copy
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Late Boomer
Super Member
Don't care, didn't watch.
With high-quality $100 DACs it makes no difference what CD transport do you use as long as it has digital output. Used DVD players are $15 in thrift stores. In fact, I picked up one for $4 with a remote included, and the unit has a display and basic play/stop/skip buttons, and has both analog line out and digital coax.
It comes down to functionality, and older machines may have the edge here, considering that many modern CD players cannot play tracks seamlessly - this is native CD audio tracks, not even MP3 files! - and cannot be programmed.
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M70AB2
Well-Known Member
Thank you for your input.
Late Boomer
Super Member
You are welcome. Something to consider when you'll be choosing between a $300 Onkyo and a $1K Rotel. These boxes are just digital file readers.
Playing a FLAC from an SD card into a DAC delivers exactly the same result without dealing with inherently unreliable mechanical transport.
The only use for an optical drive is to rip CDs before the availability of CD players dries up.
M70AB2
Well-Known Member
I am very interested to know your impressions and opinions about the TDA1541 CD players!
