8-Tracks

This was the first practical way to play recorded music in your car, and was invented by Bill Lear and developed in the 1960s by a diverse consortium including RCA Records and the Lear Jet Company.

Unfortunately the tracks were too short to hold the album-side length rock compositions that were popular in the 70s prog-rock era. Just as you were getting lost in the music, it would fade out and chhkunk! . . . the deck would change tracks before continuing the music. Certain artists just seemed to suit the 8-track format; people like Bread, Jim Croce and Seals & Crofts!

The best 8-track player was probably the early 70s Panasonic Dynamite 8 plastic portable player, in red, yellow or blue and shaped like a dynamite detonator (Pictured above). You had to push down the plunger to change tracks.

There were also 2-track and 4-track tape players briefly, but by the early 1980s, the 8-track was losing ground to the low-cost, less bulky cassette tape (which had the added advantage of offering superior sound quality). The 8-track has since been consigned to decay in the back rooms of Salvation Army shops and basements everywhere.