You can't fast forward on most car 8 track players, and you cannot rewind. 8 track tapes are not like cassettes, they are an endless loop of tape. When you pressed the volume knob on your car, your are changing tracks. 8 tracks have 4 channels.
Actually they would just fade out the song if it was too long to fit - and then fade back into it on the next program track (unless your dad was buying a lot of bootleg tapes back in the day).
Yes, 8 track tapes are a continuous loop of tape with 4 separate stereo tracks that all play at once (hence 8 tracks). You cannot fast forward or rewind, but you can switch between tracks, typically called programs. However, since the tape is continually playing you can't chose the position or song when changing tracks, The track will play whatever is on that position of tape.
Or you make the pads yourself. Open the cart, peel off the clear cellophane and save it and the cardboard backing. Clean off the rotted foam, get some new foam (from packing material, etc), cut to size with razor. Glue cellophane and cardboard back on with thin layer of rubber cement glue, reassemble. Can clean off rubber roller with Goo Gone to keep sound uniform.
Very true about fixing the pressure pads. I'd opt for weather stripping as a makeshift pressure pad if you don't have packing materials. Decades ago, I used to make pressure pads from a clean dish sponge and clear Scoth tape as a temporary fix until I bought a few 8-track cartridge tapes in thrift stores to have on hand for any future tape repair. Also, the roller can be washed using Dawn dish soap, rinse, and let air dry. I used this as Goo Gone tends to leave an oily residue behind and might destroy the magnetic tape. 8-tracks are read magnetically. 😊
I was born in 1984 and I have a massive collection of these 8 track tapes in my living room behind me, and yes I do play them depending on my mood. My Dad's got 2 cars in his garage that have an 8 track player in them. They are a 1958 Chevy and a 1950 Ford Custom. Each time him and I ride around in one of these cars I play my 8 tracks while he does the driving. I also have a portable 8 track player in the house too for playing them on days when he doesn't have the cars out. I've been listening to them since summer 1999, thanks to my Mom and Dad having a Queen 8 track tape with Bicycle Race on it. 8 track tapes for the win.
You've got a Quad-8 player, meaning you can play Quad 8 (Quadraphonic) tapes in it. No fast forward, its just a continuous loop. When you push the volume knob, it moves the head down over the 4 tracks. If you want to hear the song again, you have to wait until it loops around again.
Nice Mark V you have there - minus the after-market wheels. Welcome to the world of 8tracks. Make sure to replace the splicing foil and pressure pads before playing a tape. They're all old now and these parts go bad. They can damage your player if they break while you're playing them. It's a mess getting out tape wrapped around the capstan inside the player.
The Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack, on 8Track you have, is a classic!!! That is like the holy grail of 8Tracks my friend.😃❤❤❤Hold on to that 8Track.That one is getting harder to find.Back in the 70s everybody had that soundtrack on viynl and 8Track.Its a 70s collectable for sure.Everyone wanted to be and dance like John Travolta.The Bee Gees were a hot group.The Saturday Night Fever Sounftrack was the best soundtrack of the 70s !!!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤
On older model 8-Track player in cars, fast forward didn’t come until a few years later. My dads 1989 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series has a JBL cassette player, 8-Track Tape player and a CD player with an FM Stereo and AM Stereo receiver. It was the last year Lincoln offered a 3 combination system like that. My mom still has that car and it only has 11,211 miles on it. It would have less miles on it but since 2017 she started driving it to church every Sunday. It’s a real treat to drive that thing and it definitely turns heads because it’s in pristine condition. Even by today’s standards it floats on the highway!! It literally is like a boat.
i have those same tapes and 8 tracks are very collectable btw. since your Lincoln has a working player . dont replace it with a modern radio! its a hit at the car shows. my 77 Cadillac, 83 El Camino and 80 Corvette has working players as well
I've collected these for a few years. On that Van Halen tape, you should definitely put a new pad in it if it's not springy like it should be. Also, I assume it was untested. You'll want to replace the splice in that and any tape where the seller didn't replace it. Most of the time an 8 track went bad, it was just a bad splice. All you have to do is re-splice it and it should be good to go for years. Another possibility is that your player isn't clean. Trouble is, unless you're willing to go crazy sitting in your car with Q tips and alcohol for maybe 5 or so minutes, you won't get it perfectly clean. You can get carts that supposedly clean the player, but I don't think they do much. I believe one big reason 8 tracks failed is because the car players either stopped or sounded awful, something that can often be remedied simply by maintaining the player. Most people didn't clan their car player and I imagine not a very high percentage even regularly cleaned their home player (a car player is more of a pain).The thing is most things that go wrong with the format are fixable if you put the effort in. I dream of a car that has an 8 track in it. I may just have to install one in a more modern car for now though. If you need any help, advice or ideas on anything 8 track related, let me know.
Back when the 8 track players were in the cars, to all of us who had them, they sounded great! We had no idea how good sound technology would get. I rocked out to a lot of hours of 8 track music back in the day!!
8track cassettes were durable never had one chewed up when modern cassettes were chewing all the time always and every time .... a total nightmare it was
I didn't know 8 tracks couldn't rewind or fast forward like cassette tapes. I'm old enough to remember when cassettes were standard on cars and CD players in cars were like "wow, luxury". Apart from sound quality, I actually think tapes are more convenient. But alas, we're in the heavy digital age, mp3 storage made all that obsolete.
@EqwanoX, The problem you're likely having with your Van Halen II 8-track tape is the same thing I encountered back in 1990 when I bought an identical copy like the one you have for 25 cents. Back in my day 8-track tapes were laughable compared to modern CDs that would, in a matter of about three years, make cassette tapes become phased out. The problem I discovered with mine was 'bleed thru' which means when an 8-track is worn out, the music on all three other programs merge onto the program currently playing. Another annoyance I had with my Van Halen II 8-track tape was 'wheel squeal' while playing. I managed success when changing out the original wheel from a spare cartridge tape I had on hand. Also, keep in mind that 8-track tapes gained a notorious reputation for getting eaten up in the Capstan and tape head during play. Splice coming un-glued, age of the actual cartridge, and how the tapes were stored, environmental factors, etc. also play a role in how flawed these cartridge tapes are. However, think on the positive side and how the music on these cartridge tapes truly stood the test of time. One other thing that I would routinely do: clean the tape head and Capstan of my 8-track players with 90 percent rubbing alcohol and long wooden q-tips designed for cassette deck cleaning. Keep the door of the 8-track player propped open and allow it to air dry thoroughly. I went at my [then] brand new 8-track hobby as a teen Gen X'er beginning in 1989. I taught myself through many trials and errors back then pre-internet days since being an apprentice wasn't going to happen. That, and not too many people tinkered with 8-track player restoration as a serious hobby, either. You might also want to find an 8-track tape cleaning cartridge. These do turn up for sale regularly. These cleaning cartridge tapes help remove the black residue left behind from disintegrating pressure pads that cleaning with q-tips might miss. And lastly, you might want to place that Van Halen II into another cartridge tape and label it. Or, locate another copy of Van Halen II. I always kept extra copies of my favorite albums as backups knowing well these 8-track tapes won't always last forever unfortunately. Hope this helps! 😊
i was gonna get a sound system installed and they said they would have to take out the 8track! i decided to hold off cause the 8track adds so much novelty to the experience of driving the car and is also a fun converstation piece when i give people rides. theres something about listening to actual 8track tapes thats similar to there being something about playing nintendo games on actual cartridge. friend me on discord EqwanoX#4907 so i can add u to the group, then we can be in contact to set up a time to play nes games, talk cars, and make youtube vids
M???????? A??????? Never had a 8track before, now I heard that kids are interested in the cassettes the kind I grew up with but yesterday I found a 8track player with 18 cartridges in a thrift store and bought it. Man I LOVE IT!! Really hope these also come back someday
If it is brought back it would only be because it’s a novelty. It is a cool memory, but pretty bad sound and technology. Take it from an old person who owned them. They were great in their time, but there are so many limitations. Very little actual music, sound quality is poor, they wear out pretty quickly compared to cds or music saved digitally, it’s a real pain when the player chews up the tape or it melts because you had it in your car and it got to hot.
Hey you got a Quadrasonic 8 track player which means in the 70's, some 8 tracks were fitted with a 4 channel surround sound mix! Pick up a couple of Quadraphonic 8 tracks and see if you have full 4 channel discrete sound in the car!
Just watched your video. I'm quite surprised the tapes played. I'm also surprised the tapes didn't jam up or the splice didn't come loose in the player. If either had happened, this would've been an entirely different video with a lot of cursing. 😅 Anyway... that van halen cart probably sounded bad because of the pressure pad that the tape is pressed against when playing (similar to a cassette). If the pad is bad or not there, the sound will be compromised. It's always best to have 8-tracks serviced and cleaned before playing because most of them are 40+ years old and who knows what condition they're in. I know you were just making a quick video to see if they even played but I feel you got very lucky the tapes weren't jammed or got eaten up by the player. Just something to keep in mind for next time. And please don't keep them under the seat or in the car, the heat will damage the tape and those nice looking labels. Not to mention dirt and humidity will get in em too. They're made to be kept in a dry cool place.
Your not skipping to a different track, the head is just moving to the next program further down the tape. Cassettes can also do track skip if the cassette player supports it. in which case the tape fastfowards over the quiet parts of the tape until it gets to the next song.
That button is the program button. The button is not function correctly because it doesn't change every time you press it. If you look at the tapes themselves, it tells you what songs are on which programs. I didn't see the program indicator light on it so you may be going blind on it. Not all players had the indicator. Also, there's a silver piece of sensing tape that when it goes past two posts together, it shorts it out and causes the program to change on its own, so you can listen to the tape all the way through and then it starts over again and will repeat basically forever or until you pull the tape out. It was great for the car, but the sound quality really isn't that good. They pretty much faded away after 1982. They used to sell blanks and you could record on them back in the day if your unit was equipped to do so. It will never have a rewind function because of the design of the tape. Some do have fast forward, but it really doesn't travel much faster than twice the speed of the program. It's basically a long closed tape loop. The other thing to keep in mind is when the tape comes to the sensor, because of the age of the tape, you want to be careful and make sure it doesn't separate, because if it does, you're going to have a huge glob of tape get eaten in the machine. They do sell repair kits somewhere along the line to repair them. It's not my favorite format, but it's cool you have one. I still have a recorder that's over 40 years old and it works just fine. I probably haven't played with it in like 4 or 5 years. Anyway, thanks for posting and enjoy it. The under the seat thing is not a good idea, by the way. Take care.
probably get a 8 track tape cleaner probably help with sound. i have one that hadn't been used in years. had alot of build up on the head, after cleaning sounds better. just be careful with the tapes. after some years the splicing will fall apart and the tape wont play anymore. unless you know how to fix them.
8 tracks are cool the only bad thing is that the foil Tape ( witch is basically the tape that changes the track ) usually fails and that causes the tape to snap
When you pressed that knob it changed the program. Each 8 track has 4 programs and since 8 tracks are in stereo there are 4 left and 4 right tracks. Two tracks for each program
Why did you admit on video that you are planning to *lie*? You said you bought the tapes on eBay but were going to tell people you found them under the seat.
is it true that you cannot rewind or fast forward an 8TRACK to desired locations until the whole album ends and only then you can rewind that damn hing but only to the absolute beginning?
Aidan The Lover Boy O'Dwyer although it is true that you cannot rewind an 8 track because of how an 8 track works, it is a continuous loop of tape that pulls out from the center of the reel (tge reel is inside the cartridge) runs past the foil sensors, playback head, capstan and pinch roller (which unlike cassettes the the pinch roller is also in the front opening of the cartridge itself, not the player) and back to the outer edge of the same reel. As the reel spins the tape "winds" itself through the loop until it once again re-emerges back out of the center of the reel to repeat the process. This is why an 8 track cannot be rewound. But they can be fast forwarded and there were some models of players that had the fast forward function, otherwise you simply had to wait through the other songs until the song you wanted to hear came back around. The "program" button simply caused the player head to move down to the next track of tape to play that particular program, this was also done automatically at the end of each program to start playing the next program, often times this would occur right in the middle of a currently playing song because of how the songs were arranged on the tape. This is the loud "ker-chunk" sound that you hear coming from the player itself as you press the program button or when it happened automatically. You therefore have 4 programs on the tape itself each having at least 2 stereo channels (1 left, 1 right) or 4 channels for quadraphonic sound if it was a quadraphonic ( basically 4 channel surround sound) 4x2=8 hence the title 8 track. The format was invented by Bill Lear, the same Bill Lear that invented the Lear jet!
My Dad got a brand new 78' Malibu w/an 8track. He bought 2 or three tapes. We listened to Kenny Roger's and Anne Murray from Portland Oregon all the way to Bellingham Washington. (250 mi) Id love to get an under dash player for my truck one day, I already have a CB so, why the fuck not?
Haha, I bought a brand new 1980 Trans Am and the salesman asked if I would rather have a cassette player than the factory 8 track player....I took the 8 track cos I still had 8 track tapes!
You need to get a 8 track suite case to hold your tracks You can’t fast forward, you can get a 8 track cassette adapter and then put a Aux tape in and then play mp3s threw your car
Bro I got the ditto thing in my mark 4. I actually saw your video to get mine. I bought the Saturday night fever 8 track. Sound quality is fantastic. That’s my jam bro. Brooklyn 86th Street style. I was also of thinking of buying Led Zeppelin. Any other ones u recommend?
I Have a Lincoln to... Mk IV from 74. And i just got 40 tapes... And sad it dossent work. I can hear a motor running loud inside the radio... But no sound...
8 tracks didn’t have many options for playing. There wasn’t rewind or fast forward. I’m even surprised that when you press the button it goes to the next song. Early players didn’t have any fast forward options. The tape portion often gotten chewed up by the player. But, a tip for you, don’t leave them in the car!! They don’t weather well. If you get any kind of heat it will very easily melt! They are notorious for collecting dust.
You're actially not fast forwarding you're just changing tracks, and unlike a cd because 8 track is purely an analog format when you change tracks it plays whatever song is currently playing on that track it will not immediately start playing a new song. The 8 track is an "endless loop" format. You have 4 programs or "tracks" each consisting of the left and right stereo tracks, hence the name 8-track. When the tape is playing the tape is pulled from the center of the tape spool and moves past the track splice sensor, aka "foil" sensor, the playback head and capstan and pinch roller which is inside the tape cartridge and ends up on the outer edge of the same spool where it then winds its way back toward the center of the spool. The 2 ends of the tape are spliced together with a metallic splicing foil. When this splicing foil passes over the foil senser it automatically triggers the player to change to the next track. And this cycle will keep repeating. On pre recorded tapes, you'll know when this track change is about to happen because the song will fade out severel seconds prior and then fade back in several seconds after the track change. The "click-clack" sound you'll hear is the solenoid moving the playback head into position to begin playing the next track. All this was done mechanically without the aid of microprocessors.
You rewind and when the song ends and you dont like the second song immediately skip it that way it skips to the beginning of the song and not half or quarter of the way through
Always funny when someone takes a 40 year old tape and complains about the sound quality or it getting ate in the player as if it's the fault of the format. Take apart, clean, resplice and adjust the tention and repace the pressure pads and some tapes can perform very well. Cant just pop them in and hope for the best, might as well just throw them in the trash if thats all that's going to be done with them.
Wtf? You could press to skip tracks THEN they replaced it with cassette tapes you had to rewind/fast forward?? I wish I was born in 67' vs 76'. I would've kept my 8 track collection til CD's came out
