For years the lowly eight track was the only way to get your own music in an automobile. Then came the cassette. For a long time the cassette, originally called the compact cassette, a name that was carried over to the compact disc, was not even a serious competitor. It was worse at jamming than the eight track, and the fidelity was poor. The cases were made from cheap plastic that like the eight track, would warp in the southern sun. But the smaller cassette absolutely couldn't take it. When they came out with better heads for cassette tape players, and warp resistant plastic, they quickly overtook the lowly eight. However, I have always thought that if the same improvements were applied to the eight track, which they weren't, that the eight track would have been a formidable format. As it was, the record companies wanted to kill it, and it was all but dead when the CD came along. Along with it, died the 4 track reel, and the turntable, with the latter hanging on a little longer. Of course, we quaddies lovingly maintained all of these formats that were quad equipped. Incidently the turntable never really died, it was still the format of choice in discotesques for a long time, and has always been available. It has made a minor comeback, with cartridges and stylii showing up in Radio Shack, and never having really disappeared in the electronic shops. Anyway, as others have said, many excellent quad recordings have been lifted from eight track, so it does deserve a little respect.
The Quadfather
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