8-Track Tape Player
By Matt McLoughlin
- The 8-Track tape player was commonly used in Movie Theatres in the 1920's through 60's
- William Powell Lear, the man behind LearJet, was also the inventor of the 8-track cartridge tape system
- The Lear cartridge is in most respects identical to the 4-track tape which came before it
- The cartridge holds 80 minutes of music, close to the 72 of a CD
- 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
- Some people actually fix 8-Track tapes for a hobby
- The 8-Track tapes lost most people's interest in 1977 when the Audio tape we know of was invented
- You could buy 8-Track's in the 70's as easy as you can buy CD's now a days
- One of the biggest distributers of 8-Track players was Ford, because they installed them in all their new cars
- 8-Track tapes are still in exitince today and are still being sold
Matt wrote to his penpals Adam Taub and Daniel Meade. His messages to them are in bold.
His penpals wrote back to him, answering questions about his invention. Their messages are in italics
hey Daniel, my name is Matt McLoughlin and I go to Nobles. I live in Brookline which is right outside of Boston. I love music and chillin with my friends. Are you a nobles graduate? Ithaca Maine, eh? Is there a college out there you go to? Well, I'm doing my invention on the 8-Track tape player. It used to be popular in the 50's 60's and late 70's. Its tape quality was more than the record but less than our modern day tapes. You can look at my webpage or my picture by going to www.noblesweb.org and navagate to Student Projects Galore, CP1 Spring 97, then scroll down near the bottom is my picture. Nice meetin you,
Sincerely,
Matt McLoughlin
7th Grade, Noble & Greenough School
sounds good Matt, I will be sure to check it out...I goto school in Ithaca
New York. At Ithaca College. I am not a Nobles graduate, I went to
school in NEwton, at Newton NOrth Hightschool.
talk to you later
Daniel
To Daniel
Hey again. do you mind me asking how old are you>? I ask this because if you were born in the 70's you might remember my inventiont the 8-track tape player. any help you can give to me on it is appreciated! Thanks
Matt
I was born in 1976, I am 21 years onle..I do know somee stuff about the
8track, it is one contiuous loop of tape(same as audio tape) except, I
think it has 8 tracks of audio, and not just two(left and right) like a
standard tape of today...thats why they called them 8tracks...I don't know
why they phased them out, I guess because you could only fast forward
them, so if you wanted a song you had to fast foward through the whole
album. I think thats right maybe you could check it out..
good luck
later
Daniel
Hey Adam, I'm a sixie. I saw you on stage, are you going to be in God? It loooks good. I live in Brookline which is right outside of Boston. I love music and chillin with my friends. Well, I'm doing my invention on the 8-Track tape player. It used to be popular in the 50's 60's and late 70's. Its tape quality was more than the record but less than our modern day tapes. You can look at my webpage or my picture by going to www.noblesweb.org and navagate to Student Projects Galore, CP1 Spring 97, then scroll down near the bottom is my picture. Good to talk to you,
Sincerely,
Matt
Hey Matt,
Nice to hear from you. I was really glad to get an interesting message from you, but I was wondering why you wrote it. I think I said something to Mr. Bergen about holding a correspondence with a CP1 student; is that what this is about?
As you mentioned I am in God, and I hope you come and see it either Monday or Tuesday this week. It should be really funny. In addition, I play baseball. What sport do you do in the afternoon?
It was good to hear from you, and I hope to hear from you again soon.
Sincerely,
Adam Taub
To Adam Taub
Yes, its is a penpal assignment for CP1 from Mr. Bergen. Do you know anything about the 8-Track tape player? I could use some cold hard facts. Thanks
Matt