Revisiting the 8-Track with a New 1975 Pioneer HR-99 Recorder

The Techmoan 2013 Christmas Holiday Special (I open a parcel in it).
A look at the 8-Track Cartridge system. An explanation of the technology, what can go wrong, how to repair it and the unboxing and demonstration of a 1975 8-Track Recorder that's been stored away, new and unused, in it's box, for close to 40 years.
Note - a few seconds of audio in the video are muted due to a manual content claim being pursued by the owners of Michael Jackson's music - because hey like he needs it now and Beat It hasn't earned enough money already.
BLOG: goo.gl/hKsJ7g (Including a chance to buy your own new H-R99)
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[@BrandonGiesing]

Watching this in 2020 and the first sentence being, "looking at old tech is a departure for me" is so bizarre considering that's the main thing on the channel now 😂

[@TheArcv2]

Brandon Giesing I was about to comment the same thing

[@coreyfellows9420]

Agreed

[@WeirdWonderful]

Yeah, I was gonna say so too XD

[@margaritaraycheva9978]

i know right

[@margaritaraycheva9978]

also i like that song

[@BoshMind]

Another reason that the labels can look so bad is because a lot of tapes sat around on the floors of cars when they weren't being played in the car's 8 track player. I was lucky enough to find a case filled with really good condition tapes recently.

[@EpicTyphlosionTV]

Hello Bosh

[@joemoorman9103]

I think part of that is just the bulkiness of 8-track tapes. Cassettes would easily fit in the glove compartment, so they were better taken care of in the car.

[@TheLunaLockhart]

"now let's put Michael Jackson in and listen to that for a second" \*pregnant silence* Ah, yeah that *sounds* about right... thanks copyright

[@ToxiChaos]

Damn you Sony!!!

[@RickyRat256]

HalfiplierMania they won’t even reissue their Walkman’s

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

"pregnant silence"?

[@TheLunaLockhart]

@@qwertykeyboard5901 it's a term for when silence takes place where sound was anticipated, like when someone says "I have something to tell you" and then pauses for 10 excruciating seconds

[@giusepperana6354]

I assumed it was because the track lengths were different and he simply encountered a blank spot.

[@jorgealves8319]

That 8 track recorder unboxing is the closest thing to time travelling i've ever seen.

[@maximcoppieters]

It's easy, he built a time machine (kzbin.info/www/bejne/qmapop2Hoat1eq8 just watch these 10 seconds). Maybe not real but certanily very rich of fantasy :--)

[@AudieHolland]

The Pioneer packaging looks incredibly modern.

[@ole9421]

Exactly!! I got goosebumps during the unboxing.

[@cal30m1]

Without a flux capacitor of course...

[@crforfreedom7407]

A bit of a time capsule to be sure; brought back a lot of memories...

[@Techmoan]

I'm glad this seems to be going down well. The hardest thing was trying to pitch this at the right level. I know that there will be many viewers who know everything there is to know about 8-track then many others who were born in the 80s or 90s who've never seen these. I'm slap-bang in the middle somewhere.

[@angelface22322]

Maybe so, maybe you are slap-bang in the middle, but I bet not many of your readers know that there was a *car disc player* years before the 8-track. It played single 33rpm records.

[@BigGuyReview]

angelface22322 Really no kidding. Must have been a bulky thing. thanks for the FYI.

[@antiekeradio]

well done Matt, I love old electronics (have a collection of tube radios etc) but never got to experience 8track. Anyways its nice to see a broad overview of the tech like this. Happy holidays :-)

[@Dan-TechAndMusic]

Big Guy Review It wore down records really quickly due to having to track heavily to not skip on roads. They didn't gain a lot of popularity and were made for only for a few years.

[@jmh4270]

see thats were your wrong i was born in 85 and i was playing 8tracks as a kid and fixing them then its an acquired taste and yes they have issues but thats part of the fun and character

[@BobM925]

Homer Simpson still has an 8-Track player in his car. As a kid in the early 90s I had to ask my Dad what an 8-Track was because of it. He laughed as I recall.

[@cletusspuckler2243]

Recycle Hin The brand of Homer's 8 traks player in his car is" Trackstar " , have you noticed it ? (I'am a huge fans of the Simpsons serial !)

[@MateDrinker33]

Recycle Hin: Don't feel bad, you've actually done better than me; MY first time seeing an 8-track was when Tommy Lee Jones' character forces Will Smith (I get it mixed up who's supposed to be Agents J & K) to listen to one during the "upside down tunnel" sequence from the first "Men in Black" movie! :D

[@Ropetupa]

@@MateDrinker33 A car with alien technology, uses 8 track for music. Seems legit.

[@robertkenobi9016]

@@MateDrinker33 Elvis Promised land!

[@dangermartin69]

Yes I do, doh!

[@Draccyness]

"Sponge Crumble" is a fantastic name for an audio equipment problem.

[@Aexomer]

+Draccyness it sounds like something you'd eat. At school dinners, with some disgusting custard :)

[@Loopcats]

If I started an English punk band, I'd name it Sponge Crumble.

[@erikpark]

Sounds like a discount biscuit you'd find at a pound shop.

[@InflatablePlane]

Sounds like a skin disease >.

[@xalataf3365]

Draccyness "Ah sh**, this's got the Sponge Crumble!

[@noose-ix7in]

FYI: You can record over any 8 track tape, you don't need a "blank" tape

[@hern01134]

cool

[@12voltvids]

Wow, at the 13:48 point when you showed the tape, I saw a song on that tape by a very good friend of mine. Werewolf - Five Man Electrical Band. The Guitarist, Vern was my neighbour for over 25 years. Never thought I would see a compilation tape now with his old classic stuff on it. Great stuff as usual.

[@seatboi]

Of course, Five Man Electrical band was best known for "Signs"...I got all their 45's LOL including "Werewolf"

[@thinkbolt]

Wow, somehow I went my whole life without hearing that song!

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

Small world, init?

[@MarvelDcImage]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnm3lGikbcaMY8k

[@jakespoon5549]

absolutely Right

[@1700iDiGuy]

Top tip readers : before playing any unknown 8 track tape, open it up, wind it back on spool and adjust the tape tension, replace the sponge pad and clean the roller, check the splice strip (to re-enforce it, you can put a short strip of masking tape on the back on the none recorder side to ensure the splice doesn’t let go. Keep your players rollers clean and all should be fine!

[@Techmoan]

+PeowPeowPeowLasers Thanks for that, this was my first ever attempt at splicing a tape. I'm learning all the time.

[@jlsmith2937]

You should do a review on the Pocket Rockers there like a mini 8 track with only 2 songs on each tape like a 45 I think that would be very cool!

[@georgescott4505]

Me too.I have 8-Track albums and blank tapes and some of them need repair. I got the replacement pressure pads and I just need to find the time. Its nostalga for me though. And the cassette is still a serious format to this day for me..

[@UnReaLgeek]

My dad in high school was making good money by being the best hand splicer for 8track available.

[@TheZProtocol]

14:08 - I was about to be impressed on how you fixed that 14:12 - *pokerface

[@berkkarsi]

I laughed so hard when he said "... and this is what happened".

[@slaughterround643]

bro you just posted cringe ...two years ago.

[@robertfrench80]

HA! I remember having that happen! I would repair them of course, it was LONG, LONG before downloading digital albums.

[@hoshimaruhajime7933]

He just basically just gave up at this point

[@warywolfen]

The biggest problem with the 8--track is a design flaw with the cartridge, ie, that the pinch roller is part of the cartridge, not the tape deck. This means, first, that inconsistent quality of the cartridges produces inconsistent performance. Also, it's not possible to produce adequate pressure between the capstan and pinch roller. These problems result in greater wow & flutter than is typical for a reel-to-reel, or cassette machine. I used to work as a broadcast engineer, and had a lot of experience with the "cart machines" used in that industry. They use cartridges that are very similar to 8--tracks, but with a major difference: the pinch roller is part of the machine. It pivots at the bottom, and is pulled up against the tape by a solenoid. Those machines produce wow & flutter comparable to that of a reel-to-reel.

[@joshhayl7459]

To: Clyde Wary, Of the several items worth mentioning that were not covered here was the 4-track tape which came out at the same time as the 8 track tape but as you noted had vast improvements in usability, the four track tapes ended up losing the consumer battle but in the end won universal acceptance in radio stations all over America as "Cart"-tapes, at first used for actual on air music playback and later relegated to commercial spots and promos. Another foible worth mentioning was that some 8 track tapes had rubber Wheels to drive the tape on the capstan and other cheaper cartridges had hard plastic Wheels to drive the tape, and of course, those were terrible.

[@jaymartinmobile]

Just had to add my $.02 worth. Before the end of the 8-Track era many of them came out with Dolby (B of course) noise reduction and even the recorders had it. I still have in an attic somewhere a deck that even electrically inserted and ejected the tape rather than the big CLUNK of pushing it in and pulling it out. You would gently push it to a point and it would reel the tape in the rest of the way motorized, like a CD tray. When done, if not set to continuous play, it would gently feed the tape back out and turn off. I even had a few 160 and 180 minute recordable carts and pairing that fancy deck with my DBX 224x noise reduction and expander, and nobody knew it was a tape at all, let alone an 8-track. -Jay

[@nextsegment78]

The electronic insertion was a standard in VHS recorders 📼. I can imagine that a lot could have been done in comfort and quality improvement. Like an azimuth adjustable head to align to the tape tracks perfectly. Or music search sensors

[@Zawmbbeh]

what was the model? :O

[@s0nnyburnett]

What a great looking player, seems surprisingly modern. Must be the lack of fake wood trim.

[@adamziolkowski2549]

I kinda like the way wood grain looks. I'm 21...lol

[@Wallyworld30]

@@adamziolkowski2549 I have a similar 8 track player and mine has wood trim. Techmoan's looks infinity better.

[@Techmoan]

1) *READ THE VIDEO DESCRIPTION TEXT BOX* 2) The section around 01:50 where I explain the track layout on the tape is just plain wrong...no excuses. Here is an accurate description of the track layout from a later video I made. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKqyfJqCqbqrqtE&t=4m49s

[@cristinamonte4510]

Techmoan I don't know if. T

[@markfriedman5093]

I need you to do me a favor I can't find the Sony in-car recordable minidisc deck anywhere since you are able to find anything in the world that you want please find it for me and let me know how to buy it when you figure it out and don't let anybody else get one it's mine

[@ballisticgamer9107]

@techmoan At 9:18 the tape was probably too tightly wound inside the cartridge. Someone probably took it apart before. I've had that problem before. I just cut the metal splice off, unwound the end a couple times, then taped it back together with new metal tape, and then it sounded normal.

[@g4mmalotus937]

Oh how the times have changed

[@michaellominski1877]

Hey what nrand is the player you tore apart i have a similar one

[@RandyDierks]

This sure brought back some memories. Back in the day I was an electronics repair tech here in the US (I am now 55 years old) and I repaired many 8-track decks. In the early 80's I was the only guy I ever new to have both an 8-track and a cassette player in my car, at the same time. One little nit-pick I have though, is that your track diagram is incorrect. The tracks were actually laid out in two sets of 4, the top 4 would be the right channels and the bottom 4 tracks were the left channels (it may have been the other way around, my memory is faded on that point). So if you were on channel one it would actually be playing tracks 1 and 5, track 2 would be tracks 2 and 6 and so on. Other than that this was an excellent review about something folks younger than me know little about. Also, for best tape longevity, make sure you clean the head often, and make sure the capstan is kept cleaned as well, or you will soon experience the infamous "my 8-track is eating my tapes" phenomena. Well done.

[@Techmoan]

Thanks Randy. I knew going into this that there would be people who would be a lot more familiar with 8-track than I am. I tried to find out about the track layout because I know that on my reel to reel they are 1&3 and 2&4, but I couldn't get the info for the 8-track. I won't go to the trouble of annotating the video, I think it would be too confusing to the casual viewer. I do love my machine and enjoy playing the tapes...but convenience and reliability are not its strong points. Thanks again for the info.

[@wooferhound7571]

You can look at the tape head and see how far apart the two pickups are.

[@BradHouser]

@@Techmoan I was also aware of the correct tape layout, being a teenager of the 70's. This reduces the vertical motion required by the head and I assume makes the head easier to manufacture as the two playback heads can be further apart.

[@MrGeocidal]

Both cassette and 8track in your car? You must have been rich!

[@jdatlas4668]

@@BradHouser I would assume it also helps improve stereo separation/reduce crosstalk between the left and right channel, by virtue of the “halves” of the head being further apart?

[@jenbill]

I remember 8 tracks hated it when favorite song would split on different tracks and always having to wedge folded up matchbook between the tape and the player to keep it from dragging lol

[@toonman361]

This was a novel video, bringing back some memories from my teen years. The tech •is• really beautiful. I had a Pioneer playback unit. On the other hand, I also realized why I didn't find the 8-Track to be a very good format, clunky, deteriorating mechanisms, breaking tapes, poor gluing of the label etc. You noticed this as well. BTW, I noticed that there was quite a bit of wow in the first two tapes you played. Thanks for the memories.

[@treetopjones737]

Searching for a song on the album: KA-CHUNK, KA-CHUNK, KA-CHUNK, KA CHUNK.

[@jhutt8002]

Seeing this without ever holding a 8-track tape myself, it's kind of annoying to imagine how good it could have been: With wider tape and faster speed, if they had improved the tape and cut tracks to just 4, it would have still held single LP but with either side switchable with push of button, and pretty much studio quality audio... What a waste.

[@Ojisan642]

That hiss. I remember that hiss. It would be so loud in between songs. That's what I remember most about 8-tracks (my parents had one as part of their hifi set, along with a turntable and a tuner).

[@nodbor1]

And also a wobble sound when it fast forward to the next track to play the next song.

[@Takeshi357]

Those sponges must be made of the same material as my first headset's padding.

[@evilgrows]

Foam Rubber... ("Pressure Pads")

[@jongeers5983]

The original purchaser of many of the tapes you show was a member of the Columbia Record (and Tape) Club, which accounts for the letters CRC on the label. Their system caused some folks to end up with a lot of music they never wanted, because it was easy to forget to mail back the card that would stop them from sending you their 'selection of the month' which of course carried a full retail price plus shipping. However, the club was part of the reason I went with 8-tracks in a big way when I did. I lived far enough away from any brick-and-mortar retailer selling music, so going to a record store meant tagging along with my parents and inevitably being questioned and scorned for 'wasting my money' on such things. 8-tracks fit in the mailbox, and I was always home before my folks so I could get them in the house without being seen. Speaking of being seen - many of CRC's tapes were manufactured with the bright plastic like your Elton John tape. If you think it's bright in regular light, put it under a black light and it will REALLY glow.

[@seanwilkinson3975]

At least here in North America, a goodly number of 8-track cassettes were filled with "Hits of/in the Style of [insert band or genre] - As Performed By The [insert session band name] Studio Musicians". Naturally, they ranged from so-so but listenable to "what were they thinking?" I even owned one where an awful George Carlin imitator performed amateurish versions of the real Carlin's stand-up comedy routines, all to a ridiculous track of canned "audience" laughter that repeated every few seconds. Their only upside was that they sold much more cheaply than the actual artists' releases, often at gas stations and truck stops, for road trippers and truckers with 8-track decks to inexpensively amass a library of musical diversion.

[@Mario_N64]

That also happened well into the CD era. Music was expensive, and an investment. We sometimes looked for our favorite songs on compilations, to maximize value. Then the mp3 came and changed all that, not necessarily for the better.

[@Mario_N64]

Well, quality, for starters. But what I mean is you could buy or download just one song in mp3 format, just the song you wanted, not the whole album. CDs were expensive, so you had to plan carefully your purchase. So artists put a lot of effort on albums, at least the good ones. A Led Zeppelin or David Bowie casual fan had to wait for greatest hits compilations, since buying every album was not an easy task. Those compilations were not commonplace. David Bowie's greatest hits CD didn't come out until around 2002. It's good that you can buy just your favorite song on iTunes, but artists just now focus on singles, and great whole albums are rare. Great albums like "Appetite For Destruction" are a lost art.

[@Mario_N64]

+Steve What I'm saying is that without that old music business model, we wouldn't have classic albums like U2's "Achtung Baby". We would only have the song " One", the most successful single from the album. We would have missed the opening song "Zoo Station", as a sort of shocking intro to the band's new sound. Great albums were regarded as whole masterpieces, not a collection of songs. We wouldn't have Pink Floyd's " Dark Side Of The Moon" either. Those were great sonic experiences, not just the newest, hottest song. The mp3 revolution changed that for better and for worse.

[@TheoriginalBillBraskey]

Goodly?

[@girlspooptoo8567]

@Captain Confederate Man I always thought that it was ungodly. Like: That was an ungodly amount of fish you ate last night at the swingers party Have a good-ly one

[@brunster64]

That Star Wars album by Meco took me right back I remember having that on LP

[@loydisham6492]

I had Meco "Encounters of Every Kind" on 8 track

[@biggles1024]

Mat, you've outdone yourself again. I was enthralled by this video. 8 tracks weren't all that popular here in Australia, they were quickly overtaken by cassettes and then CD's. For a while now I've been wanting to digitise all my music and then sell my turntable, amp etc, but with this and your reel to reel, you're given me cause to reconsider. Cheers from Oz.

[@Techmoan]

Rather than digitise, I'd definitely go in the other direction and embrace the analogue. I think the media is part of the experience. I'm going to do a video about the reel to reel as well as some other old tech next year.

[@ccadam]

@@Techmoan I was the same once wanting to download or digitise everything. It would've been a fairly big job and then I just started playing them as they were and collecting and repairing turntables. Getting better sounding equipment and realising how much better they can sound than digital. Then there's always the collecting and playing them. Much more enjoyable than playing a file on a phone or computer.

[@trustmeimblack1620]

One cool thing about 8-tracks that you didn't mention is that some of the mixes are very different from what was offered on the LP or cassette versions of the same albums. Also, there were quadrophonic versions of many albums offered on 8 track.

[@filminginportland1654]

Trust Me, I'm Black! I forgot about the cool mixes!! 45s often had different mixes too. Often different mastering as well on different mediums.

[@trustmeimblack1620]

Filming In Portland I remember hearing the Elvis Aloha From Hawaii Concert on a quadrophonic 8 track. I felt like the coolest dude in the world till the tape jammed.

[@X2FileWrightonite]

@ Trust Me, I'm Black! "Hello there." I really enjoy when someone learns me something - and I'd didn't know that some of the mixes offered on the 8-tracks were different from the LP or cassette versions. I find that "fascinating". I grew up in the 80's with records - then the cassette tape- and then the CD - but just missed the era of the 8-track. Since I now own an 8-track player - and the things are now cheaper than dirt at just about every thrift store I've ever wondered into - could you possible give me a list of just a few titles where in that was indeed the case - so that I may witness and enjoy then? Thanks in advance.

[@TheSteveSteele]

Will Wright III I want to say Black Sabbath's Paranoid had a different edit of War Pigs but I could be imagining that. I used to listen to my older sister's 8-track more than she did and something I listened to had a special edit for 8-track.

[@PerChristianFrankplads]

Do you have some examples of different mixes? Maybe with links to Discogs? Or do you mean "edits", since AFAIK some tracks had to be faded/edited to fit the length/format of 8-track?

[@reddev5420]

Just stumbled across this video. My Grandparents are moving to a new house, and while emptying the place out we recently discovered an 8-track player in pretty good condition up in the loft, with about 25 cartridges. I was born in 1987, so too young to have experienced them during their era. Watching this video has made me think about trying to get some of them playing - I found it very interesting, so you are up one subscriber :)

[@ibrennan]

I lost it at the "iTunes solution" lol, great video!

[@vader0ne]

I use to find the tapes along the road while riding my bike.I use to put the spindle on my turn table and slowly wind the tape back together.worked great....

[@HockeyVictory66]

Bozz Skaggs on an 8-track rocked. Who can forget "Lido" except for anyone born after 1975?

[@godwillguideme.3773]

Can you forget that second Z in Bozz?

[@drewgehringer7813]

ah, back when techmoan looking at old technology rather than new was unusual

[@Lakes57]

That tray loading cassette, wow, never seen that before, I love it! :)

[@mlovmo]

The first music I ever bought was on 8 track: Queen, The Game, When I was 9 years old.

[@robertfrench80]

Thanks for this video! This surely takes me back. My first car stereo was an 8-track. It was simpler changing music than with cassettes and they were actually more reliable, less prone to tape-eating than car cassette players. I also did my share of repairing 8-track cassettes. Leaving them in the car, the summer heat took its toll on them.

[@nick_vee]

Oh don't be a baby. That big pile of loose tape from the Robert Palmer cartridge can easily be reeled back onto the spool and spliced again. Somebody just doesn't like a challenge and about an hour of time to kill. ;)

[@shana_dmr]

skipphunter Robert Palmer 8-track cartridge that plays voice of the devil would be pretty awesome though:)

[@InflatablePlane]

Donatello Nobatti I revived a Supertramp cartridge that the tape turned to a solid mass. One little cut and a reel to reel player and I had it back together popped it in and it cued perfectly at the start of “Goodbye Stranger”.

[@denshi-oji494]

That reminds me of when I was up in the mountains many years ago, when I was probably about 10 to 12 years old. I found 1/4" tape strung all over the trees, ground, and into the river. I took it all home very carefully in a big pile. When I got home, I carefully cleaned all the tape with rubbing alcohol and soft tissue, and wound the various parts onto small reels. Then, using a reel to reel recorder, I verified the head and tail of the reels, and identified the order that they belonged in. Then I properly spliced the tape lengths and wound them onto a spool from a donor 8-track Cartridge, and spliced the final head and tail together. I do not even remember what the tape was now, but it worked and I did listen to it a bit off-and-on. It was a bit fun to do all the repairs. I was actually surprised I had the complete tape, with no missing parts!

[@robertknight4672]

I have an adapter that lets you play cassette tapes in an 8 track player.

[@zone47]

Those are worth a couple billion dollars now on ebay!

[@blueforest2927]

Lmao....

[@engrownhare2427]

dogs and cats living together

[@michaelszczys8316]

I had a couple of them, they work pretty good

[@JaredConnell]

At the beginning you say that this is different for you, doing old technology instead of new, but those are my favorite videos -the ones you do about older tech like this one so thanks for giving US a great look at how older tech worked and pleas keep it up and continue to make more of the same!

[@Techmoan]

Jared Connell Thanks, I do have a few more old tech videos planned for the coming months.

[@SketchTurnerZero]

+Techmoan Do it more please!!

[@JaredConnell]

@@Techmoan its funny looking back because this is now what you've become known for, retro audio tech. And its still my favorite type of techmoan video lol

[@blakethomas5637]

You've inspired me to listen to some 8's tonight (it doesn't get nearly enough love). Currently blasting Hawkwind's "Doremi Fasol Latido." Completely worth it to seek out the best of the best gems and repair them, love to bring them back to life and impress guests with my beautiful outdated media!

[@TechWurst]

This episode was great. You should really make more videos about Audio Equipment and everything related to it because you seem to be more passionate about those things than cheap Car Cameras (which is understandable) Oh, and now I also want to find out more about your equipment and how you integrated the Sonos.

[@EzeeLinux]

We're about the same age... My dad LOVED 8-Track tapes int eh '70s and I remember long hours listening to them in the den. Later, I had a friend who had a nice recorder --- this was the mid 1980's -- and I have fond memories of dubbing CD's on to 8-track for my dad! :)

[@JoeGP]

interesting video, i was born in '85 so i almost never heard of 8 tracks and certainly never seen one (on TV or in person) Congratulations on unboxing the oldest box on youtube.

[@Techmoan]

You are the perfect person to watch this video...glad you liked it.

[@joshuawood7758]

There Spotify, now I know what a frickin 8 track tape looks like

[@DanChasingTheGlobe]

This is great. Thanks for your efforts in making the videos about vintage gear like this. I had an 8-track player in my first car. The year was 1991. Car was a 1977 Oldsmobile. I acquired some 8 tracks easily at that time from second hand shops. I remember having a Chuck Mangione that sounded great. Then the unit stopped working. Cheers from Texas.

[@Syncopator]

Old magnetic tapes also suffer from "print through" where the magnetism from one part of the tape, overlaid in the windings over another piece of tape, can impress some of its magnetic pattern onto the adjacent wind of the tape. This can happen on 8-Track, or reel to reel, or cassette. Also, some particularly cheaply made mag tapes would degrade and stick to their adjacent layer and essentially bind up in the machines, potentially ruining the machines motors &/or pinch-rollers. I've heard of people actually putting these tapes in the oven at a low temp and heating them up which apparently could unstick them enough to be able to play and dup their content off onto something else. I've encountered these sticky tapes but haven't tried the oven technique. I still have a bunch of old 8-track tapes and an 8-track player/recorder. This inspires me to want to dig that stuff up and see if they still work...

[@stuvs830]

"Tape" was very uniform rust (oxide) in a glue, stuck to cellophane. Pretty fragile really, and heat is the enemy. Your description of baking tape is exactly right. The thought us, you get one play after they're baked, so better hit Record to capture it to something else. :)

[@evilgrows]

This was caused by a "faulty" binder that was used in the oxides on certain Cassette Tape formulations in the mid 70's through the mid 80's. It absorbs moisture (which it is NOT supposed to do) and this degrades the tape and causes screeching, squealing, slow binding of the tape, etc. and makes these Cassette Tapes unplayable. It is also referred to as "Sticky Shed Syndrome". Have never seen this happen on 8-Track Cartridge Tapes, though.

[@HillbillyRednecking]

Got an old 1970 K5 Chevy Blazer with an 8 track in it, plus the truck still has daisy chains of old beer can pop top leavers hanging from the rear view mirror, back when you opened a beer can and you ended up with two pieces

[@Hugh_Hunt]

MECO STAR WARS and other galactic funk!!! I just picked that up on vinyl a few weeks ago! Really trippy album!

[@sundancesultan]

L and R are not next to each other. Program 1 is tracks 1 and 5, program 2 is tracks 2 and 6 etc.

[@americancitizen748]

I remember having an 8-track player and used to fall asleep while listening to music. But then then the big CLUNK when the track changed would wake me up again.

[@badinibeats5939]

michael jackson always sounds good cant use that for a fair analysis

[@noahreynolds4716]

Hanray Music Did it seem to be playing slightly slow to you?

[@kenshin80012]

tapes can stretch out, and the song will seem slow

[@MewtwoM]

Yes, it was playing just a wee bit slow, but overall it wasn't that bad a tape.

[@phatsmitty]

^^ thank Quincy Jones

[@CeeStyleDj]

phatsmitty you can thank Quincy Jones for the production but you can thank Bruce Swedien for the actual mastering quality of the album. :-)

[@wildbill9919]

When l was a kid in the early 80s l bought the only 8 track l ever had in my life-"Ghost in the Machine" by The Police. Why? Because my grandma's 1980 Ford Thunderbird had an 8 track car stereo.

[@lxjxgxs2682]

Anybody here after hearing the Spotify ad 😂

[@aodhganmerrimac]

Fun video, I would recommend storing your 8-Tracks on their side rather than flat. It'll help keep the tape flat.

[@joeblow8593]

8 Tracks were huge here in the U.S. in the 1970's, so much so that at one point some point car manufacturers started to offer optional AM/FM/8Track players as a factory option. If you didn't want the factory option...Panasonic, Sanyo and Pioneer also sold an 'aftermarket' combination 8 track/FM 'under the dash' players for the car. These were especially popular at the time because most cars still only came with an AM radio, so it was a win win marketing concept. In the latter part of the 1970's, some manufacturers like "Audiovox" even started producing 'in dash' AM/FM/CB radio and 8 Track players, there were sold around $250 to $350 USD. Later the price of these eventually came down some. You can see one here at kzbin.info/www/bejne/faOzhHyBfLysh5Y At some point 8 tracks became so popular here that you could have bought "off brand" (no name manufacturers) under the dash 8 track players for as little as $25 USD in some places. "Off brand" 90 minute blank tapes could often be found for as little as $2.00 USD each or less... At one point in the early to mid 70's, prerecorded bootleg 8 track tapes were readily available at nearly every corner store for as low as $2 a piece! Sometimes the sound quality was sometimes OK to even pretty good, most times they seem to have more 'hiss' than legitimate 8 Tracks. 8 Tracks had some other drawbacks besides the inability to rewind. Some inexpensive and portable 8 track players didn't have the capability to automatically change tracks. You had to change it manually with a knob or a 'plunger' (like those portable Panasonic players). In addition, the portable players often required 8 'D' cell batteries to operate and the battery life wasn't good at all. The biggest drawback was that some prerecorded 8 Tracks had songs were split between two tracks. (Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd was a prime example). So in the the middle of the song it would fade out and you had to wait until it changed tracks (or had to change it manually) and then hear the rest of the song on the next track. To solve that problem, you bought an 8 Track recorder. These were about $100 and up to $200+ USD. You'd record your record album onto the 8 Track and put the full song on one track. Eventually more people started using cassettes and by the very early 1980's the 8 track pretty much fell out of favor. But it had a heck of a run here in the U.S. for the time that it did...The audio quality was pretty good on average, no doubt due to the 3-3/4 ips (9.53cm) speed.

[@evilgrows]

Yep, the faster speed had better "Fidelity".

[@marksgmail66]

My '66 Riviera had an in-dash Delco AM/FM 8-Track

[@RoelVandePaar]

Great video. Especially where you recorded new music on old tapes.

[@Dushku]

Great video! Congrats on being the first person to ever hook an iPad up to an 8 track player. Next, you'll have to play pong on a 50" LED backlit IPS LCD :-P

[@purplemutantas]

Hell yea! Hook up an Atari 2600 to a modern TV. That would be SWEET. River raid would be awesome on a big TV.

[@muddshshshark]

8track was really big here in Canada in the early 70's ..I fixed so many of those, they would tighten up and sometimes i would pull the whole thing out onto the floor and rewind with a compass needle and resplice.. Sometimes the deck would eat the tape and you would have to gently pull it out of the deck leaving the tape hanging out of the cartridge in a big loop.. If you were good you could pull on the inner side and give it a spin and it would suck it back in...I had a Muntz player in my 68 Javelin with pretty good speakers ..It's all we had to be able to hear your own music and we were lucky here in Canada because just about everything was available on 8 track.

[@TheXtremesoundz]

Absolutely FANTASTIC video, loved the old equipment and the education given. I've just bought a Bang & Olufsen Beocenter 9000 from 1986. Very expensive because of how rare it is, can't wait to open it on christmas day!

[@Techmoan]

You are a chap after my own heart - would love to get hold of a BeoSound 9000 6-CD player. Gorgeous piece of tech.

[@BigGuyReview]

WOW thats awesome!

[@dandanthegadgetman]

Techmoan I have a B&O Beosound 9000 its just oustanding paired with Beolab 4 speakers , a David Lewis classic its the Mk3 version

[@MrComputerfan]

That Pioneer 8Track is sooo beautiful! It matches perfectly from the Design to my very well used 1971 Pioneer SX2500 Receiver. This old japanese Stuff is very solid and just works! The SX2500 also has two of these little green Meters for the Signal Quality and Tuning, but they already turned yellow over the Years...

[@The_Original_Hawkez]

OMG, that thing is beautiful. I love this old tech. It really is a work of art.

[@That_AMC_Guy]

The HR-99 is a solid player. I've had it's big brother, the HR-100 since it was new. The only difference between the 99 & the 100 is that the 100 gives up it's automatic level control for Dolby B noise reduction. A fair trade-off, I think. I've been into 8-tracks all my life and have a substantial collection of tapes. In the neighborhood of 500 Quad tapes and maybe half that in stereo tapes. I've moved a few times and during one of those moves, I sent three very large garbage bags full of 8-tracks to the dump. One small suggestion is to use a tiny amount of Vaseline rubbed onto the pinch roller spindle and the tape loop spindle. It'll help keep things moving smoothly. The less friction within the tape makes it easier on the player to maintain tape speed thereby reducing wow & flutter. If there's any tapes you'd be interested in owning, send me a wish list. If I have anything, I'd be more than happy to send you a care package.

[@JohnBassarcticsoundstudios]

The label bubbles up because they have more than likely been left out in extreme heat and cold weather in cars. The 8 Track system were invented by the guy that started Lear Jets, he wanted a music system for his planes. Some 8 Track tapes had the name "LearJet 8" on them.

[@Techmoan]

My new old stock 8-tracks bubbled up in the house within a few hours of being taken out of the shrink wrap.

[@andyvasquez8337]

I would think that whatever adhesive they used has broken down over time,thus causing the bubbling

[@evilgrows]

Bill Lear, God rest his soul...

[@evilgrows]

@@andyvasquez8337 NO, it is Heat , Humidity and carelessness (condition) that caused the bubbling!

[@russelljdj]

Great Video! 8 Tracks in the UK were like Mini Disc in Europe which were big, but not here in America even though Mini Disc was WAY better than CD and any invisible digital shit. There was also an experiment on the L cassette which never made it to market I believe. It was to use the same size 1/4 inch tape as the 8 Track. Thanks for the video.

[@alancarnell2747]

Have you considered doing a b&w TV retro review. I had a small one in the mid '70s that I swear had a much better picture than color TVs of the time. Also could explain the difference as to how they made the picture as well.

[@V8Lounge]

Do you know where to get the rubber wheels on the 8 track cartridges? I 'produced' one for myself from a rubber hose but it is not 100 round.. :) so you hear it a little bit. Greets from the V8Lounge in Germany

[@flashback1123]

loved this video! brings back so many memories of my youth :) thanks

[@stratocat9999]

I have the US version of the HR99 (recently gone through and ready for new belts) and it is a bit difference. For one, the meters do not light up until it's in record mode (there is no record indicator over the volume controls like yours). During play mode, the meters are inactive and no lights other than the track indicator and the counter. Pioneer also made a version with built-in Dolby B. In the final days there were a number of pre-recorded tapes released with Dolby B ( I have a few). I bought my HR99 used in 1980, with very low use on it. 8 tracks were available into the mid-80's, and blanks well into the late 90's. At least in the US. I used 8-track players in my car well into the 90's. You will find that the tapes you record yourself will generally sound better than pre-recorded tapes. Hiss is generally not much of an issue on tapes you record yourself, but you can always drop a DBX224 in line. I have! :) My HR99 is in my main rack in my home studio, as i do have many off-air recordings that I want to digitize. That, and it a fun piece to have active in the system. Well done video!

[@evilgrows]

The HR-99 does NOT light the level meters all the time, Only when Recording. The big brother HR-100 lights the meters all the time and it has Dolby B Noise Reduction. Columbia/Epic was the first Record Company to start using Dolby B noise reduction on their 8-Track Cartridge Tapes in late 1973 or early 1974.

[@projectpat006]

I have this same exact 8 Track deck. easily one of the best made in the US!!

[@NeilVanceNeilVance]

..This takes me back! .. me 48 now and yes when I was 5 my mum had 3 carts for her car, 'ABBA, Beach Boys and Carpenters'. But I had totally no idea the record industry was still pushing carts in the 80's! .. in the mid 70's we moved on to compact cassette and lol I remember taking one of my mum's 8 tracks apart to see how the tape was continuous.

[@evilgrows]

It wasn't the Record Companies that pushed it in the 80's, it was the "Record Clubs".

[@realVertiqo]

Annnd Thriller is blasting from the speakers for the next couple hours. :)

[@jeremyusbourne6289]

Still one of my favorite videos of all time fav videos Matt.

[@SamiPekkarinen]

Great video! I love old technology.

[@workonesabs]

There was a 8 track adapter that allowed you to play your compact cassettes in your player. Worth getting one, maybe. I had a 2 XL Robot toy in the 80's which used 8 track - but used the stereo into mono, so you had 8 programmes and Questions & Answers.

[@francoisgermain3991]

Can't believe those bran new machines you find! AMAZING!!

[@nancydrew1882]

I honestly had no idea what 8 track was, that’s why I’m here!😂😂

[@dawsonwillibey9855]

The last album to be released on 8-track was Fleetwood Mac greatest hits

[@Jah_Rastafari_ORIG]

@silverbird58 Your..." _Charge-a-plate_ " ...?

[@zen10ten]

I had a Sony TC-8 Recorder and Player. It was connected to my Kenwood TK-88 AM\FM Stereo Receiver and my Dual 1019 Turntable. I'd make these custom 8-track tapes for Road Trips and Friday Night Cruising. I had the top of the line Craig Pioneer 8-Track Player installed in my 1966 Mustang, with two Craig Pioneer 6X9 Coaxial Speakers mounted in the read deck area and I believe there were two 6.5 inch Coaxial Craig Pioneer Speakers mounted in the Front Door/Kick Panel Area. It was installed at this local Stereo Shop in West Texas. It sounded great! No complaints, fun music and wide open spaces of Far West Texas! My favorites were The Beach Boys & Merle Haggard! Those were GREAT DAYS!!!

[@OrangeHarrisonRB3]

"Dross" is the best word I've heard so far for describing the thousands of copies of Elvis, Bach and Guy Lombardo that old-music collectors have to sift through to find the good stuff. That's definitely entering my daily vocabulary.

[@rtv190]

+Orange Harrison thats all i find whenever i go find Laserdiscs

[@SPAZZOID100]

I would take that dross over 99 percent of current "pop".

[@InflatablePlane]

Don't forget Englebert Humperdinck and Waylon Jennings tapes. Also Jesus music too. Had to dig through lots of that to find a mint in the wrapper Phil Collins 8 track. It felt like Christmas.

[@MateDrinker33]

Orange Harrison: Slightly different thing, but that totally reminds of the seemingly limitless supply of "Frampton Comes Alive!", Guy Lombardo, and that one album featuring "Wichita Lineman" whose artist and album title I can never remember that gets dug through everytime one hits the LP bins at the flea markets and thrift stores. :D

[@120upperoom]

I really enjoyed . Blast from my past. Thank you.

[@berkkarsi]

8:27 I guess KZbin did find out the song.

[@engineered_images]

KZbin auto content matching really does need to get bent.

[@emprsnm9903]

@@engineered_images Yeah, it just keeps getting worse. Who really believes anyone would pay to listen to 8 seconds of a song? If 1 million people were asked in bars, on the street, online, etc, I'd bet the only ones who would consider doing so would be trolls.

[@conrad4667]

One can listen to 1:30 of any song on the iTunes Store...with no possibility of background noise. No one is on KZbin to listen to music as _an included part_ of a whole video NOT on music.

[@jonathansmith2168]

I was born after the year 2000 and use 8-tracks as an everyday format. My current stereo setup even includes a 1971 Sony HST-388 Hi-Fi Stereo 8-Track deck. I also fix all the cartridges myself with various non-standard parts (example: weather strip for windows, scotch tape, etc.). I also have a portable General Electric 8-track player (GE 3-5505f) that I use all the time to bring my 8-tracks around. Long live the 8-track and great video!

[@dvamateur]

I guess I must say I like electronics and mechanical technology combination. Electronic and software only? Makes me cringe. Sure, I like software to certain degree, but if it takes most processing power just to run some cheesy GUI adequately, that totally beats the purpose for me. Having said that, I don't like mechanical only technology either (corrupt Swiss watch industry anyone?). I think what makes perfect balance is that sweet spot when software does not overwhelm the hardware. And it's gotta be electronic people. Swiss watch is like Babbage relay machine, and the Swiss want us to pay thousands of dollars for it. Why doesn't anyone see that? While Japanese companies who do not rip us off to those levels, we're deliberately killing them off. I think it's quite disgraceful of our society to do that.

[@s0nnyburnett]

+Andrew Piatek Nobody has a real need for a high quality, only mechanical watch. It's become a luxury item. It's like trying to buy tools for wood working. If you want a high quality hand plane you can pay pocket money for a used vintage plane from Stanley made when people needed these tools, or pay 500 dollars for the Lie Nielson hand plane made today. It's a very small market of enthusiasts willing to pay extra to get something that isn't available anymore.

[@SPAZZOID100]

8-tracks were awful!!!

[@scottplumer3668]

My dad had a '79 Chevy Camaro that had an 8-track player. Rush sounded awesome on it! Couple of interesting tidbits: Pink Floyd's "Animals" album featured an instrument guitar track played by Snowy White, that was only available on the 8-track version. It was a bridge between program 4 and program 1, to make the album a continuous piece of music. The other thing is Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys released a solo album this year that was available on 8-track. They only made a limited number of copies, and they were pretty pricey. Great video, as always!

[@BlokeOzzie]

Disco Jaws 2. That's all I got out of this video. Disco. Jaws. 2.

[@Zizzily]

+OzzieBloke Time to explore the world of Meco. Disco Wizard of Oz, anyone?

[@emprsnm9903]

@@robertromero8692 I wish he would've played the Disco Jaws 2. Its probably the only place it still exists! Kind of along the lines of an, I dunno, picture of a 24yo Margaret Thatcher in a bikini! It could be great/hot, but we'll never know for sure.

[@VideoArchiveGuy]

I love that between when this was made and today KZbin DID content match the first section of the "Thriller" 8-track and muted it… can't risk music sales to an 8-track tape recorded through a mic. 😆😆

[@yelwing]

My memory of the 8 track era is seeing miles of tape along side the road from people tossing them out of their car widow in frustration

[@michaelszczys8316]

You should have one on 4 - track players. They were the same actually just had only two channels like a quad deck. When I was about 13 a friend got one from his older brother or somewhere and we hooked it up. We only had one tape ‘ Canned Heat ‘ with Refried Hockey Boogie on it. We listened to it about 100 times. It’s badass tune. I have a quad deck from a Ford car but never tried hooking it up. I only have one tape. Steve Miller the Joker. I used to have a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon and Humble Pie Smokin but lost them in moving. 8- tracks took most people from the world of mono AM radio with one speaker in the dash to awesome stereo in the doors. 8- tracks worked fabulous except they didn’t like being tossed around in a car. I still have a bunch from the mid 70s that play fine except some the metallic joiner tape gets old and comes off or sometimes the rubber wheels break down to tar- like goo and you have to change them out. Don’t get any of that goo on the tape or it will mess up your whole week

[@SpacePatrollerLaser]

The original monaural ones were called "4-track"

[@That_AMC_Guy]

+Cl Lyman 4-tracks were stereo. Two Programs of Two-channel sound. 2x2= 4

[@DetroitThor]

My dad found a 4 Track player at a Flea Market around 1974, I was 14. He knew I was saving my money for an 8 Track Recorder and thought he was doing me a favor, bless his heart. It had about a dozen 4 Track tapes but they were all country music. It worked but I never found a 4 Track tape of any kind at any store.

[@pancudowny]

Looking at the "Flashdance: The Original Soundtrack" album, I found a listing of sorting codes for other formats the album was available on from the original recording company... These included Compact Cassette, CD & (Surprisingly) 8-track cartridge. This was back in '83, basically the final year for any new 8-track hardware. Any tapes released in this format afterwards were typically transfers done by Columbia House, hence your find of Madonna's '87 release.

[@brokenscart7989]

That player is the sex. There's something about analog sound recordings..

[@aBerlin1945]

analog sex? :P

[@boingkster]

Waveforms instead of binary. Yeah baby.

[@danieldougan269]

It is a beautiful machine. Belongs in a museum really.

[@ZeldagigafanMatthew]

So, rewind is not a possibility, but fast forward is, but it's not recommended since it it can snap at the joint. Good to know what not to buy.

[@AiMR]

When you use the editing block you overlap the two pieces and cut them with one stroke. Then you butt them together and put your splicing tape over the join, still in the editing block.

[@Techmoan]

+Eric Blair thanks for the tip

[@keithparkhill8321]

It would not matter how good the play back deck is because the tapes were garbage. About a month and you had to jam a cigarette pack under the tape to get it to work.

[@vader0ne]

I use to find 8 track tapes unraveled on the weeds on a dirt road riding my bike, I would take them and cram them in my coat pocket and take them home place the center wheel on my turn table and slowly repair them. Just like the old radio carts you had to deal with the Graphite that messed up the heads so had to clean them all the time. But hey thanks for the memories.

[@charliemorris2338]

Tape hiss was the problem and the tapes were difficult to keep from malfunctioning.Cassettes,better;I'm still rockin them in 2020.

[@thecow2756]

i have about 30 8 track casettes and a VOLVO Car radio(or what it is even called in different areas) with a 8 Track player in it

[@Techmoan]

+thecow275 Living the dream

[@thecow2756]

Techmoan Yeah :)

[@steveprebble1065]

That's gotta be like over 40 years old (car and radio). At least.

[@ps3master72]

dude, nice pimped ride right there. can't get much better than 8 tracks on the road

[@IrishKeshiHead]

Wouldn't be too bad to have the 8-track come back.. But rather than having a tape system, the tapes have got a digital reader in them that has the entire album in the order you get from the albums originally.

[@lezbriddon]

Really enjoyed watching this, not seen 8 track in years, did see a player at the carboot on sunday... Ignore the people leaving negatives, this was an excellent upload. merry festive holiday of whatever type you will partake in.

[@faffaflunkie]

The _eight track_ was like something produced by the old *Soviet Union.*

[@kevinpatrickmacnutt]

RCA did not use a sponge. It used a spring and pad set up. They also made the best sounding tapes

[@evilgrows]

"Pressure Pad" is the correct term for the foam pad.

[@manstersr]

8 tracks, if you had a tape that only had one song you liked in the car you had to ride around a while to hear it again. Maybe that's why albums were better then. I had a home Akai 8 track recorder that weighed at least 30lbs. I would get high quality Maxell blank tapes from a local stereo equipment retailer, they didn't have a sponge like the cheap tapes, they had a little felt pad on a copper flat spring that applied pressure to the tape for tight head contact. I used to record all my albums to 8 track from my vinyl and would calculate the tracks out so you didn't have it changing tracks right in the middle of my favorite songs like the store bought tapes. I would sometimes take the tape cartridge apart and cut the unused portion of tape to the longest track and it was a balancing act to keep the tape tight enough to spool correctly and not too tight so it would drag. I really hated that fade out, clunk, fade in like he described. If 8-track tape machines had received the Dolby noise reduction circuitry and metal tape like cassettes they would have had superior sound because they ran at twice the speed of a cassette. The actual tape is the same as a reel to reel tape in size and speed so it's good quality. I think reel to reel only used four tracks, two stereo L+R for each direction as you flip the reel over so the spacing between tracks was better hence better sound quality. I think the way this vid shows the track layout is incorrect, I'm not an expert but I think the four L channel tracks were at the top and the four R channel tracks at the bottom or vice versa and that was to separate the coils in the head so they don't cause interference with each other's magnetic field, if you look at the tape player head you see that the two elements in it are separated farther apart than what it would be if they were arranged as your diagram shows. The issue he's having with the tracks bleeding over is probably a head alignment issue, most car decks had a hole in the upper case housing so you could stick a small screw driver in and adjust the head while it played so you could adjust for misalignment. As the tapes got old and were in your hot car all the time the adhesive on the connecting aluminum tape piece would let go and the tape would unravel like the one he had and you'd have to get the metal tape piece to join the ends back together but when you went to wind it all back together it was tricky to get the proper tension on it because as the tape comes out of the center it takes up the slack and goes back onto the outside of the spool. When they would stick to the capstan roller and unravel we'd just take the tape out and hold the cartridge with the tape hanging out and tug on the side that pulls the tape out and it would magically rewind itself into the cartridge. Too bad they never made the case out of clear plastic that would allow us to see the way it worked. BTW, the cleaning fluid is just denatured alcohol and the 6" long wood shaft cotton swabs were available at Radio shack. I still have my Pioneer under dash super tuner 8 track player with the big round dial for the FM tuner.