Yesterday we took a look at the development of the long-playing record. So what better audio delivery system to next delve into than the much-mocked Eight Track Tape cartridge. I was first introduced to the format in 1976 when my father bought a flashy, new Cadillac Seville. The car came equipped–as most luxury cars of the day did–with an eight-track deck. They even threw in a few sample tapes for us to listen to, in case we didn’t own any already (which we didn’t). One was the orchestral sounds of Enoch Light And The Light Brigade. Another was the great Judy Garland London Palladium concert. As a twelve year old music and radio and phonograph and cassette tape geek, I was fascinated by the initially intrigued by the boxy tapes and quickly irked by the odd track changes which stopped songs in their tracks, allowing them to resume only after a pause followed by a clunky start-up noise. I briefly collected 8-tracks, playing them at home on a plastic, red device that failed to impress my youthfully discriminate eye for audio design. By the late 70s the format was already on its way to extinction and I was happy to toss them out a few years later, by which time they were a laughable reminder of passing fads. What I didn’t realize, until seeing the above mini-history of the format, was that they actually were a hugely important step in audio history, as they were the first portable music that could be played in automobiles. Starting in 1966, the built-in Eight-Track tape deck was installed in many cars, presenting drivers with their first taste of taking along their tunes on their driving journeys. Cassettes, which you could fast-forward and rewind and record tunes of your own choosing, were the next much improved step and handily did away with their bulky and flawed predecessor. Before we write off the decrepit 8-Track entirely, let’s at least give it the dignity of a thanks for having revolutionized driving in the twentieth century. And then came the next big driving improvement–the text…