Blast from the Past

[wodin]

I remember around the late '50s or early '60s the J.C. Whitney catalog had a automobile turntable for playing vinyl records. The record would go in vertically and the stylus was spring loaded against it.

The problem was in order to have enough pressure on the stylus to prevent skipping tracks when driving on rough roads (and ALL roads were rough in those days) it would destroy the records with just a few plays.

Needless to say, they didn't sell very well, but the need was recognized and so 8-track was invented.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by wodin

I remember around the late '50s or early '60s the J.C. Whitney catalog had a automobile turntable for playing vinyl records. The record would go in vertically and the stylus was spring loaded against it.

The problem was in order to have enough pressure on the stylus to prevent skipping tracks when driving on rough roads (and ALL roads were rough in those days) it would destroy the records with just a few plays.

Needless to say, they didn't sell very well, but the need was recognized and so 8-track was invented.

I remember seeing 8-tracks and 8-track players being offered for sale cheap in garage sales when I was a kid. The audio cassette had come along and become more popular I gather much like VHS would do to Beta a few yrs later in the fight between video tape formats.

[Apache]

8 Track tapes actually had better sound quality than the original cassette tapes. When Cassettes were first available the sound quality was not very good. It was a smaller width tape. Later the quality improved with the introduction of compact cassettes and 8 track disappeared. Cassettes are made with polyester base tape, have just over a 1/8th inch tape width, and a slow playback speed of 1 7/8 ips, thus contributing to a limited dynamic range and frequency response.
Apache

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Apache

8 Track tapes actually had better sound quality than the original cassette tapes. When Cassettes were first available the sound quality was not very good. It was a smaller width tape. Later the quality improved with the introduction of compact cassettes and 8 track disappeared. Cassettes are made with polyester base tape, have just over a 1/8th inch tape width, and a slow playback speed of 1 7/8 ips, thus contributing to a limited dynamic range and frequency response.
Apache

I understand that Beta had a better picture quality than VHS as well. Beta only had about an hour or so of tape though while VHS could get 6-8 hrs of tape time. So Beta lost out in the end to VHS. It's interesting how sometimes the lower quality product wins out over the competition simply because there is more quantity or something. I never really noticed that the audio cassette had limited dynamic range or frequency response. Guess my ear wasn't discriminating enough back then.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by Apache

8 Track tapes actually had better sound quality than the original cassette tapes. When Cassettes were first available the sound quality was not very good. It was a smaller width tape. Later the quality improved with the introduction of compact cassettes and 8 track disappeared. Cassettes are made with polyester base tape, have just over a 1/8th inch tape width, and a slow playback speed of 1 7/8 ips, thus contributing to a limited dynamic range and frequency response.
Apache

True, but I couldn't get used to the loud "chunk-chunk" of an 8 Track changing from one track to the next, sometimes in the middle of the song.

Add in the fact that I was driving noisy, cheap, old used cars back then (my personal record was a used 12 year old Chevy Nova that I found in a barn and paid $25 for), I only used cassettes.

[BenG]

From 40 years later it seems like it always changed tracks in the middle of a song.

[tubemonkey]

Ahhh... the days of toxic chemicals

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Ahhh... the days of toxic chemicals

LMAO!!! They left out another bad one, the Mattel VacuForm that super heated a small sheet of thin plastic which you could then vacuum mold over a mold. I also remember that most cars in the 1960s didn’t have seat belts, at least in the back seats where the kids were. And it was perfectly legal to drive your pickup down the highway with the kids in the bed of the truck! Me thinks they were secretly trying to get rid of some of us Babyboomers.

[sqdancer]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Me thinks they were secretly trying to get rid of some of us Babyboomers.

Sounds perfectly rational to me

[OtinG]

Come to think of it, the Pogo Stick was pretty dangerous too. I saw a lot of kids crash to the ground on those things. And probably the most dangerous toy of the era was the BB gun. Little Ralphie's mom was right, you can put your eye out. But somehow we survived and very few serious injuries occurred. Today kids ride skateboards into the air doing loops and all kinds of bone (and neck of course) breaking stunts. Plus they ride mini bikes and ATVs over obstacle courses when they are still years away from being able to get a license to drive a car. Nature's way of illustrating Darwinism, and thinning the herds!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Come to think of it, the Pogo Stick was pretty dangerous too. I saw a lot of kids crash to the ground on those things. And probably the most dangerous toy of the era was the BB gun. Little Ralphie's mom was right, you can put your eye out. But somehow we survived and very few serious injuries occurred. Today kids ride skateboards into the air doing loops and all kinds of bone (and neck of course) breaking stunts. Plus they ride mini bikes and ATVs over obstacle courses when they are still years away from being able to get a license to drive a car. Nature's way of illustrating Darwinism, and thinning the herds!

Not Ralphie's beloved official Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot-range model air rifle! Say it ain't so

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Come to think of it, the Pogo Stick was pretty dangerous too. I saw a lot of kids crash to the ground on those things. And probably the most dangerous toy of the era was the BB gun. Little Ralphie's mom was right, you can put your eye out. But somehow we survived and very few serious injuries occurred. Today kids ride skateboards into the air doing loops and all kinds of bone (and neck of course) breaking stunts. Plus they ride mini bikes and ATVs over obstacle courses when they are still years away from being able to get a license to drive a car. Nature's way of illustrating Darwinism, and thinning the herds!

I wasn't content with just shooting BB guns in my youth. By the time I was 12-yo, I was shooting automatic military weapons (machine gun, BAR, Tommy Gun, etc). I was the first kid on my block to do so. Even rode a tank, but my dad wouldn't let me shoot the main gun, bummer.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I wasn't content with just shooting BB guns in my youth. By the time I was 12-yo, I was shooting automatic military weapons (machine gun, BAR, Tommy Gun, etc). I was the first kid on my block to do so. Even rode a tank, but my dad wouldn't let me shoot the main gun, bummer.

Were you what they used to call a "military brat"--parent(s) in the military? It sounds like you lived in many different locations growing up. My dad was in WWII and he carried the Browning BAR. He mustered out right after the war though. I think 3+ years of jungle combat were more than enough for him. I never got to shoot any of the military grade weapons back then, but growing up in rural Texas we did a lot of target practicing as teens when we were old enough that our parents foolishly trusted us!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Were you what they used to call a "military brat"--parent(s) in the military? It sounds like you lived in many different locations growing up. My dad was in WWII and he carried the Browning BAR. He mustered out right after the war though. I think 3+ years of jungle combat were more than enough for him. I never got to shoot any of the military grade weapons back then, but growing up in rural Texas we did a lot of target practicing as teens when we were old enough that our parents foolishly trusted us!

Yep, Army brat and I did live in lots of places. My dad was too young for WWII, but he did fight in Korea and Vietnam. I was the opposite and fought in no wars during my stint in the Army. My dad was very spit and polish, whereas I was very laid back and waited until I was told before I got a haircut or polished my shoes. Military authority and I don't see eye-to-eye, so that's why I bailed.

[tubemonkey]