On 7 Nov 2005 23:02:04 -0800, "Cartrivision1" wrote:

Well, consider that I only pay $.25 or $.50 at the most for each
8-track, there is always the possibility that they will either be
non-functioning or will break at the first tape splice. I guess it is
the cost of investing even a quarter on this long dead format. I could
see going through that much trouble as you described if it was a really
rare title, or a quad tape, but for titles like "Frampton Comes Alive",
or the Wings album I mentioned, it is not like I cannot get the
material elsewhere, and in better condition I might add! snip

Very true. However, I've spent a lot of time freshening up these
things to make them as playable as possible, and have gotten a good
taste of what happens to 8 tracks as they age. One thing's for
sure...as with anything else, mileage = degradation, and no
maintenance = quicker degradation. Due to its skinny tracks, like
cassette, carts are very susceptable to partial erasure due to
magnetized heads and guides, and a full 30% of the carts I've gotten
in have enough degradation of the imposed signal that they're
musically worthless. However, some are sonically very good, better
than the format ever had a reputation for, of course. It's been an
interesting project, but as you say, it's a lot of work to maintain
these things, and other formats are generally of better quality.

dB