![]() ![]() ![]() At first, 4-track and 8-track tape players were just car accessories. The 8-track format, on the other hand, was developed by a diverse consortium that included the Ampex Magnetic Tape Company, Lear Jet Company and RCA Records, and enjoyed the tremendous advantage of being championed at its inception by Ford Motors, which in 1965 (debuted September 15) offered 8-track players as an option in their complete line of 1966 model cars. His marketing and distribution arrangements were spotty at best, relegating the 4-track format to the inferior (when compared to 8-track) status of a regional phenomenon, most popular in such locales as California (Muntz’s home base) and Florida, but unpopular or unknown in many other areas. The 4-track system was refined and marketed as a car accessory by Madman Ernie Muntz, a west-coast used car dealer looking for something he could offer as an accessory to boost his used car sales. Although extremely similar in appearance (the only obvious difference between the two being a large hole in the top left underside of 4-tracks), the two formats were not at all compatible, having been developed and marketed by two different and competing factions. Titles by rock artists did not take their place alongside the classical music, opera, ballet, and jazz offered on reel-to-reel until the mid ’60s, after the successful marketing of pop and rock music on 4-track and 8-track cartridges.įour-track and 8-track cartridges coexisted on the marketplace for some time, with the 8-track format eventually defeating by attrition its look-alike cousin (before in turn being overtaken by the cassette format). Aimed at audio enthusiasts who owned reel-to-reel tapedecks, the selections offered on reel-to-reel reflected the supposed partisan palates owners of high-end equipment were presumed to have, and the tapes were, for the most part, sold in hi-fi shops and electronic stores, not in record stores. However, the material available did not include rock for some time. Its physical characteristics went through a number of permutations before standardizing in fact, stereo reel-to-reel tapes were marketed before the introduction of the stereo LP. The first prerecorded tape format offered to the consumer was reel-to-reel, available as early as the 1950’s. It seems appropriate therefore to first look at the history of prerecorded tape in the U.S. The car culture of the United States spawned the notion of tapes as an alternative to popular records, conceived as a means to give the American driver the option of listening to the music of his or her choice while in transit. Each took its turn in the marketplace, with varying degrees of success. Such was not always the case, as 4-track and 8-track cartridges, reel-to-reel tape, and the all but forgotten PlayTape format all preceded cassettes. controversial digital tape formats, cassettes are the only format of prerecorded audio tapes offered for sale today. Ignoring DAT (Digital Audio Tape) and DCC (digital compact cassettes), both …. Copyright © 1994 by Doug Hinman and Jason Brabazon ![]()
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