When did car manufacturers switch from 8-track players to cassette decks? – Jalopnik

In the late 1970s, 8-track players were replaced by cassette decks in the automotive industry. Major American automakers such as General Motors had begun to move away from 8-track, with 1980 models having an option for a cassette deck. The format would continue into the 1980s, with manufacturers desperately trying to hold onto a share of the market. According to AmericanCollectors.comBy 1984, cassettes had reached a 51% market share. Making matters worse, as the momentum for audiocassettes gained momentum, 8-tracks became less reliable, using poor quality materials to reduce costs.

The 1966 Ford Mustang was the first model to get an 8-track player and it was a big deal for music fans at the time. Before this technology, aside from an earlier attempt at a car record player that failed to take off, motorists finally had an alternative to the radio. Listening to the song of your choice on-demand has helped increase the popularity of the technology. An 8-track used magnetic tape a quarter inch wide, wound into a cartridge, which contained four tracks in stereo, doubling the number to eight. They ran continuously and were divided into four programs. The playback head could change position to read the different songs, filling the car with the sounds of popular artists of the time.

The 8-track would certainly not be the only format that enjoyed success, but would be abandoned in favor of other options. Even the long-standing foundation of car audio, the radio, could get the axe. While EVs may have helped wipe out AM radio, Congress might just bring it back.

Far from the only drawback, the way the 8-track was designed it often interrupted the song being played to change songs. The four programs were limited in duration to approximately 10 minutes, after which the music stopped, followed by an audible awkward sound of channel switching, and then the music resumed. Such an interruption would be unthinkable today. Imagine getting into your car and turning on something like the Boss Audio Systems Elite, only to have your tunes cut off mid-song. But in its heyday, 8-track offered enough positives for drivers that this quirk of the format was overlooked.

Cassettes used two inner reels that transferred the tape from one to the other as it played. This opened up the possibility of having multiple sides, as the tape did not run in a single continuous direction, as with 8-track. With the ability to hold nearly 60 minutes of music on each side, songs were no longer interrupted.

Of course, cassettes got better and better over the years, with chromium oxide being used for more robust tapes and improved noise reduction technology. Even after the sun set, with the rise of compact discs, this format lived on in a sense. Let’s hear it for the cassette aux adapter, the greatest in-car entertainment invention of all time.