The History of Music Formats

[Derek]

Ever since i heard the news about these big "record" companies not manufactering anymore CDs but putting everything on MP3, it got me to thinking about the music format history. i always wonderd how it worked. Like the tape wars of the late 70s and early 80s, how did the cassette win over the 8-track? From what i remember i had better luck with 8-tracks than cassettes. I can only think of why the artists themselves didn't like the 8-track and maybe the consumer is because they would have totaly rearrange the running order of the songs on the album to make it fit each 4 programs and if it cant a song would be repeated or worse split into 2 parts. but aside from that, what about the durability, thats where the 8-track beat the cassette and i would think that would be more important....but not the record companies.
Enter the CD. Just think how long we had the Record (phonograph, vinyl, LP, etc) that was the ultimate format for about 8 decades (i think, pretty close)...until the CD. Then records began shrinking like the 8-tracks did in the early 80s.
Now let's look at the durability of the cassette, i seem to have noticed it's duribility has gotten weaker as time went on. I seemed to have been the only one who noticed that cassettes (and it's players) seemed to have malfunctioned more and more in the mid to late 90s, they started to snag more. cassettes that you would buy in the early 80s would last at least 20 years, a cassette bought in, say 1998, would only last for just 2 weeks, a month if your lucky. it was like the manufactuers was getting a little lazy and not giving us top notch quality cassettes anymore. ofcourse not, because they want the consumer to buy more CDs.
And now we're gonna end up not having any format at all. it's as if our lives are dominated by these corparate entities we can not control or see. is there anyone else who sees this?

[2 of 3]

I thought cassettes got better in quality. I used to buy, Metal tape...wasn't metal of course, but it said it was. The sound quality was WAY better than a CD too. I used to make mix tapes with my JVC dual deck, and even my friends said they sound so much better than anything they have heard. I'm sure it was just the machine though...others did sound pretty bad.

Now...8 Tracks...they DID sound horrible..so much tape hiss it was like having snakes in your dashboard.

As far as track running order...I seem to recall my copy of Abbey Road on cassette had one extra song out of place on it...so...I guess t hey did it too.

[Derek]

Yeah, "Come Together" and "Here Comes the sun" switched sides. which gave gave George first 2 songs on the cassette.
i never had tape hiss on 8-track but then it was a long time ago. but i do remember buying one 1992 album on cassette and side 2 was muffled on the right speaker. so i exchanged it for another copy of the same album on cassette...same exact thing. and most store bought cassettes i would buy from then on would either snag, muffle up or drag. i would exchange players and cassettes but something always went wrong...BUT i will tell you this some blank cassettes were sturdy. But later on even them got a little weak.

[mervap]

Recorded music has come a long way from the wax cylinders of the early times...In George Martin's book "All You Need Is Ears", he describes EMI's recording technology in 1950 which consisted of microphones transferring the musical impulses electrically (through the wires) directly to needle, which cut the Master Disc. There was no tape involved at all.

I have been litening to music since the early 1970's and I remember 8-track tapes as being inferior in every way to cassettes...cassettes were: A. More convenient, B. Better sound quality, C. Easier to store and handle. Both pale in comparison to Vinyl. I'd like to think one would still be able to order a "hard copy" of the music you want, but I suspect that won't be the case.

[2 of 3]

Oddly enough, that JVC deck I had/have, seemed to do something to the sound. When I copied a vinyl album...it somehow enhanced it...not sure how...but the sound was beautiful. Maybe it was just to my ears, but..no..even my friends used to say...where did you get this?

[Derek]

I couldn't been the only one who had bad luck with cassettes. Ever try to fix a cassette! My eyes are bad yes, but even to someone with 20/20 vision. Look at these vids:

You try doing that with a cassette...those tiny things. You'd have better luck fixing a watch.
And take a listen to this Sgt. Pepper 8-track. believe it or not i had a cassette that sounded worse.

[Derek]

oh, i almost forgot, for those who are wondering what the Sgt Pepper Reprise would sound like without "A Day in The Life" following it here it is: