Hey, bud! Yeah...I mean you. Which other bud do you think I'm talking to? So: Here's the question. Eight track tape recorders & tapes: They're extinct, right? Or ARE they? (Yeah. I did say "ARE they?" in a highly provocative fashion. I agree. It's the italics that make it feel extra much that way, too.) Wait? What's that you're asking? I can't hear your squeaky little human voice. Oh. Why am I up in this tree? I'm always up in this tree. You just never look up, bud! You're all distracted and staring down at your humptyhumpty iphone and ipod and ipad and iga and ipa and whatnot. Okay: So...what's your answer? Eight tracks? Time's a-tickin'.
Okay, so sue me. I don't have a real clear answer for you, bud. Here's what I know. Eight track tape players are not being manufactured anymore, as far as I can tell, 'though many old ones roam the earth.
A bud named Big Bucks Burnett has an Eight Track Museum in Texas and it looks like he's got another Eight Track Museum in Roxbury, NY, too! Big Bucks says: "There are only two choices. A world with an Eight Track Museum, and a world without. I choose with." Rock on, Big Bucks! I choose a world with an Eight Track Museum, too, man!
There is a frickin' great website called "Welcome to 8-Track Heaven" and from that website it appears that 8-track tapes ARE STILL BEING MADE. Aw, bud. I'm sorry about the shoutiness. I'm big, I'm orange, I'm highly excitable. What can I say.
Every dang link I click on in 8-Track Heaven leads to a gray nothingness. Does that mean that while 8-track tapes are not extinct, 8-track heaven IS extinct? Naw, naw: Here's the old archived version of the website and it is MAGNIFICENT, man. Go on and check it out. It is so rich in 8-track lore.
And Dino Casserole salutes the memory of an 8-Track Goddess. Here's to Abigail Lavine (aka "Our Lady of the 8-tracks"). Never knew her, but she sounds just great and she'll never be extinct as long as she is remembered and saluted. Here's to you, Abigail Lavine!
So, in the interests of more remembering and saluting: Here's a photo of an 8-track player, courtesy of the knowledgeable 'n amusing Super 8 Man. Super 8 Man says this model came in "Explosion Yellow," "Bomb Blue," and "Detonator Red." YOW!
