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Re: [ARSCLIST] 8-track conservation and preservation
Hello, Elizabeth,
You're at my wife's alma-mater! Good choice of schools <smile>.
As an aside, I'm in the throes of packing for a move back to Aurora,
Ontario, my wife's hometown and I will be practicing tape restoration and
related consulting from Aurora starting in the fall. My wife's from Aurora,
I lived there once, and it seemed like a good time to move back.
Are you talking about the 8-track Lear cartridiges?
I can think of several good reasons to preserve them--and they're all
outlined at the 8trackheaven Web site. http://www.8trackheaven.com/
But, seriously, as a delivery medium for recorded sound, I thought at the
time they left something to be desired. While I (and, more importantly, the
clients) have been pleased with the results I have obtained restoring a few
old
8-tracks, it really was never a truly high-fidelity medium. For a variety
of reasons, in part due to Nakamichi, Maxell, and TDK, (among others),
cassettes' fidelity surpassed 8-tracks early on and 8-tracks never caught up.
The four short programs were always a bother, but the format was instantly
adaptable to discrete quadraphonics and while I can't say it soared on
that, there were a few good decks made that could create and play 8-tracks
with reasonable quality.
Personally, I was delighted when the CD took off. At least for me, it
solved all of the challenges with all of the previous commercial media. I
do think some CDs sound awful, but that's not the fault of the medium, but
rather due to CD reissue errors--errors often of not understanding the
subtleties of playing the original master tape.
Since 8-track was essentially a distribution medium and I would hazard a
guess that perhaps 90% of the units out there were players only, there is
not a large body of work enshrined on 8-tracks and no where else. These
were all derivative from LP or cassette releases. It was just another
format. I don't think (m)any record labels considered
8-track the premiere format for release of most music. At the time 8-tracks
were popular, I think most serious audio enthusiasts were content with the
LP. We all knew how well the LP could work, and many of us had tapes. The
professional reel-to-reel tapes sound better than anything we've ever had
in our homes, but, to my ears--and those of many knowledgeable
colleagues--CD is the closest we've had.
So, if there are a few recordings available only on LP, 8-track, and
cassette and not on CD, give me two pristine LPs if you want the best sound
possible.
The phenomenon of the 8-track is certainly an interesting study from a
sociological perspective, but I would not be so interested in it from a
technical perspective. I don't see libraries maintaining large 8-track
collections--there are better ways to access the material. I would think if
a library received a unique recording on 8-track they would be best off
transferring it as files to their file server--or at least having it put on CD.
There are some significant "time bombs" in 8-tracks, including lubrication
loss and deterioration of the pressure roller that is part of the
cartridge. Also the availability of players is a big issue. I doubt new
ones will be made. It appears that the 8-track newsletter is essentially
out of business after a big resurgence in the 1990s. A note I saw on the
8trackheaven Web site tonight indicated that eBay changed the whole feel of
the 8-track resurgence--for the worse and the editor is now disheartened.
Anyway, I do not know of any serious scholarly works looking at the
8-track, but there are some Audio Engineering Society papers about its
development.
We won't see new 8-tracks being made, either, as most of the duplication
lines have been junked. For better or for worse, tape is a dying medium. It
has served us well for 50 years and it remains strong in some niches, but
at all levels, machines are harder to come by--especially the good ones,
and media is starting to sound like the same story. There is one
manufacturer of media left for analog tape--Quantegy.
Cheers,
Richard
At 10:20 PM 7/26/2004 -0400, you wrote:
Hello,
I am a student in the Library and Information Science program at the
University
of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario, Canada. Currently I am enrolled in a
class called Conservation and Preservation Management. My final project is a
presentation and manual about 8-tracks. I am finding some helpful
websites but
was also wanting to find some academic literature on the topic. If this
exists. I also wanted a supporting reason for preserving this media. If
someone could give me any advice on any good resources, please let me know.
Thanks,
Elizabeth Sutter