8 track tape vs cassette2/9/2024 Cassette has 4 tracks, 2-channels in each of the 2 directions. And that doesn’t even factor in the cost of replacing the cassette deck every 12 to 18 months…I don’t think I had one that lasted longer than that…at $100 to $200 a pop in 1980s dollars. Sure, 8-track tape was twice as wide, but also had twice the dedicated tracks for the given width - 2 channels for each of the 4 passes. The few music programs I tried to tape with my cassette decks were only good for reminding me to buy the LPs and later CDs when I could afford them.Īs for cost, I sometimes have to pay $15 for a CD if it’s something new, but that’s because I usually listen to “classical” music and except for imports or SACDs, even classical discs are frequently discounted to $10-$12. And it can be equal sound quality to the broadcast. Now, I can record digitally with software from the Internet radio, if I would want to. I lived through the cassette tape period and used them to record from FM (in grad school, WNYC and WBAI talk radio almost exclusively) and I can still remember the frustration when a tape would come unspooled and twisted around the drive mechanism…not often but once in a while, and any time was too often. I’ve had them crack just by accidentally dropping one on the floor. And although probably not a serious issue, plastic cassette housings were breakable. I’ve had to rip more than one cassette out of a player because the tape somehow managed to get caught. And if you were ever so unfortunate to have your tape get caught between the play head and capstan, well, game over for that cassette. Then there was the issue of a song ending halfway through at the end of side one and continuing on side two. Like any recorded medium, it was a challenge trying to fit songs on only so many minutes of tape. R2R also basically evaporated from the audio landscape, a fact made simple as it was never a widely used format to begin with.Ĭassette tapes were not without their drawbacks. Today, we euphemistically call them a “1%” system – only one percent actually qualify. But unlike your average cassette tape, 8 tracks do not need to be flipped over to play all the tracks. Each Cassette Tape is a Full-track Master tape (not a copy). Just like a cassette tape, an 8 track tape is a magnetic analog music device. In the 1960’s, R2R was typically found on the finest and most expensive systems. Stereo 8 Cartridges (commonly known as 8 track) went on the US market in 1965. The physical similarity between 4- and 8-track cartridges permitted the development of converters that fit into the increasingly obsolete 4-track tapes and enabled them to be play ed in 8-track players.While not specifically a declarative statement, reel-to-reel, the “other” tape format, is widely considered the zenith of recorded music for home-based audio. Not the least reason for this was Ford’s de facto endorsement. Although 8-tracks grew popular very quickly and were a vast improvement for playing music on the go, as with all technology, something better came along soon afterward cassette tapes, then. The two programs of the 4-track format were like the two sides of an LP, each holding roughly half the total program material.ĭespite 4-track’s potential to deliver better sound quality, it was the 8-track format that eventually dominated. In fact, the format took its name from the fact that two programs, each with two tracks of information (left and right channels of a stereo mix) equal four tracks. The 4-track cartridge had two programs–the tape played all the way around the loop, then switched to the second track and did the same thing all over again. In the 4-track format, the pinch roller (the wheel that moves the tape along as it plays) was housed in the player. The development of the 8-track format took the basic 4-track technology and refined it, making changes designed to make the tape less likely to jam while playing, and to increase accessibility to individual selections on the tape. He acquired rights to the format and began marketing both players and prerecorded tapes, licensing music from major record labels. Developed in 1956, the 4-track format was originally forsaken as unmarketable and lay dormant until the early ’60s (as far as the consumer market goes), when enterprising E arl Muntz saw its potential. While the cassettes are physically interchangeable, these recordings are not interchangeable with 8mm video formats. But there were issues impacting quality of 8 track - the tape is in a continuous loop and it's basically trying to self-destruct slowly every time it is played. Hi8 tapes were also used for an 8-track professional digital audio format called DTRS, including the Tascam DA-88 and similar models. Harga TEAC V-6030S Stereo Cassette TAPE Deck hifi kaset BARANG BARU. The 4-track cartridge format had a head start over 8-tracks. Theoretically 8 track could sound better than the same cassette because the tape is moving at twice the speed (3.75 vs 1.875 ips).
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