Eight-Track Tapes

Eight-track tapes get a bad rap, routinely written off as the poor-sounding, short-lived format between tapes made for reel-to-reel players and the portable cartridges made for cassette decks. But eight-tracks enjoyed a following from their introduction in 1965 to their eventual demise in 1988, and their fidelity was more dependent on the quality of the eight-track deck they were played on than the quality of the tape itself. In addition, even though most of us associate mixtapes with cassettes, the first mixtapes were actually made on eight-track players, which became favorites of home audiophiles beginning in 1968.