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Stereo-Pak
The Muntz Stereo-Pak, commonly known as the 4- track cartridge, is a magnetic tape sound recording cartridge technology. The Stereo-Pak cartridge was inspired by the Fidelipac 2-track monaural (audio & cue tracks, later 3-track for stereo) tape cartridge system invented by George Eash in 1954 and used by radio broadcasters for commercials and jingles in 1959. The Stereo-Pak was adapted from the Fidelipac cartridge design by Earl "Madman" Muntz in 1962, in partnership with Eash, as a way to play pre-recorded tapes in cars.Jay EhlerEarl Muntz Meets George EashBillboard vol. 84, No. 47, 18 November 1972, p. 62, 76, 78 The tape is arranged in an infinite loop that traverses a central hub and crosses a tape head, usually under a pressure pad to assure proper tape contact. The tape is pulled by tension, and spooling is aided by a lubricant, usually graphite. History The endless loop tape cartridge was designed in 1952 by Bernard Cousino of Toledo, Ohio. Previously, music ...
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Madman Muntz
Earl William "Madman" Muntz (January 3, 1914 – June 21, 1987) was an American businessman and engineer who sold and promoted cars and consumer electronics in the United States from the 1930s until his death in 1987. He was a pioneer in television commercials with his oddball "Madman" persona; an alter ego who generated publicity with his unusual costumes, stunts, and outrageous claims. Muntz also pioneered car stereos by creating the Muntz Stereo-Pak, better known as the 4-track cartridge, a predecessor to the 8-track cartridge developed by Lear Industries. He invented the practice that came to be known as Muntzing, which involved simplifying otherwise complicated electronic devices. Muntz produced and marketed the first black-and-white television receivers to sell for less than $100, and created one of the earliest functional widescreen projection TVs. He was credited with coining the abbreviation "TV" for ''television'', although the term had earlier been in use in call le ...
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8-track Cartridge
The 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic-tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, which pre-dated the 8-track system, surpassed it in popularity for pre-recorded music. The format was commonly used in cars and was most popular in the United States and Canada and, to a lesser extent, in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Japan. One advantage of the 8-track tape cartridge was that it could play continuously in an endless loop, and did not have to be ejected, turned around and reinserted to play the entire tape. After about 80 minutes of playing time, the tape would start again at the beginning. Because of the loop, there is no rewind. The only options the user has are play, fast forward, record, and program (track) change.
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Fidelipac
The Fidelipac, commonly known as a "NAB cartridge" or simply "cart", is a magnetic tape sound recording format, used for radio broadcasting for playback of material over the air such as radio commercials, jingles, station identifications, and music, and for indoor background music. Fidelipac is the official name of this industry standard audio tape cartridge. It was developed in 1954"Eash hand-made his own plastic cartridge for his first working unit and in 1954 began showing his unit to record people" ... "What Eash did in the Fidelipac cartridge - a term invented in 1956 by a Toledo advertising agency - was splice tape together.""Car Cartridges Come Home"
pp.18-22, ''
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Bill Lear
William Powell Lear (June 26, 1902 – May 14, 1978) was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding Learjet, a manufacturer of business jets. He also invented the battery eliminator for the B battery, and developed the car radio and the 8-track cartridge, an audio tape system.Stim and Pressman 2007, p. 20. Throughout his career of 46 years, Lear received over 140 patents. Career Lear was born on June 26, 1902, in Hannibal, Missouri, to Rueben Marion Lear, a carpenter, and Gertrude Elizabeth Powell Lear. His mother left his father and he stayed with his aunt, Gussie Bornhouser, in Dubuque, Iowa. Later, Otto Kirmse took him in and raised him as his stepson. The family relocated to Chicago where Lear attended Kershaw Grammar School. On Sundays, he attended the Moody Tabernacle (now Moody Church). "From listening to Paul Rader, of the Moody Tabernacle, he learned grammar and how to speak. He found out how to meet people, how to shake hands, and what ...
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PlayTape
PlayTape is a audiotape format and mono or stereo playback system introduced in 1966 by Frank Stanton (entrepreneur), Frank Stanton. It is a two-track system, and was launched to compete with existing 4-track cartridge technology. The tape cartridges play anywhere from eight to 24 minutes, and are continuous. Because of its portability, PlayTape was an almost instant success, and over 3,000 artists had published in this format by 1968. White cases usually meant about eight songs were on the tape."Car Cartridges Come Home"
pp.18-22, ''High Fidelity (magazine), HiFi'' / ''Stereo Review's'' ''Tape Recorder Annual 1968'', retrieved May 22, 2023. (Details about PlayTape on pp.20-21.)


Introducing PlayTape

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George Eash
George H. Eash (May 11, 1911 – July 6, 1980)Cartridge Inventor George Eash Dead
Billboard vol. 92, No. 29, 18 Juli 1980, p. 97
was an American inventor of several magnetic tape audio cartridges having a single tape reel. In 1950s he worked next desk to Bernard Cousino, who invented the endless tape loop, using it at first on an open reel. Eash created further cartridges using this tape loop like the
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Endless Tape Cartridge
An endless tape cartridge is a tape cartridge or cassette that contains magnetic audio tape that can be played in an endless loop, without the need to rewind to repeat. Description The endless tape cartridge has a tape transport that allows forward movement only. The magnetic tape can have start and end markers, like a magnetic beacon, an electric conductive splice, a hole that can be optically scanned, or a transparent splice tape. The cartridge was invented by sound engineer Bernard A. Cousino and it dominated the North American market for many years. One of the first products that used the endless tape technology was the Audio Vendor from 1952, an invention of Cousino's. It was registered as patent US2804401A. The tape is passed through an inner ring of loose tape reel, where the recording is stored, and looped back through the outer ring of the reel. Initially, this mechanism was to be implemented in a reel-to-reel audio tape recorder. Later, Cousino developed a pla ...
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Bernard Cousino
Bernard August Cousino (August 1, 1902 – December 29, 1994) was an American audio technology inventor. He invented an endless loop tape cartridge design in 1952, known as the Audio Vendor, under U.S. Patent 2804401A. The tape is pulled from the inside of a loose tape roll making it spin to wind the returning tape onto the roll again. Initially, this mechanism was mounted on a reel to reel tape recorder. Later Cousino developed a plastic housing to be hung on some tape recorders. At first, the magnetic coating was wound facing the inside of the reel. This cartridge was marketed by John Herbert Orr as the ''Orrtronic Tapette''. Newer cartridges had the magnetic coating wound facing outside of the reel, which required a special recorder to operate it, but offered comfortable, simple insertion of the cartridge without threading the tape. These more compact cartridges do not require any bottom spare for the tape head assembly. That would inspire George Eash to make the Fidelipac ...
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Audio Signal
An audio signal is a representation of sound, typically using either a changing level of electrical voltage for analog signals or a series of binary numbers for Digital signal (signal processing), digital signals. Audio signals have frequencies in the audio frequency range of roughly 20 to 20,000 Hz, which corresponds to the lower and upper Human hearing range, limits of human hearing. Audio signals may be Synthesizer, synthesized directly, or may originate at a transducer such as a microphone, Pickup (music technology), musical instrument pickup, phonograph cartridge, or tape head. Loudspeakers or headphones convert an electrical audio signal back into sound. Digital audio systems represent audio signals in a variety of digital formats.Hodgson, Jay (2010). ''Understanding Records'', p.1. . An audio channel or audio track is an audio signal communications channel in a data storage device, storage device or mixing console. It is used in operations such as multi-track recordi ...
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45-rpm
In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standalone tracks or connected to an artist's album, and in the latter case would often have at least one single release before the album itself, called lead singles. The single was defined in the mid-20th century with the ''45'' (named after its speed in revolutions per minute), a type of 7-inch sized vinyl record containing an A-side and a B-side, i.e. one song on each side. The single format was highly influential in pop music and the early days of rock and roll, and it was the format used for jukeboxes and preferred by younger populations in the 1950s and 1960s. Singles in digital form became very popular in the 2000s. Distinctions for what makes a ''single'' have become more tenuous since: the biggest digital music distributor, the iTunes ...
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Cassette Tape
The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Netherlands, Dutch company Philips, the Compact Cassette was released in August 1963. Compact Cassettes come in two forms, either containing content as a prerecorded cassette (''Musicassette''), or as a fully recordable "blank" cassette. Both forms have two sides and are reversible by the user. Although List of magnetic tape cartridges and cassettes, other tape cassette formats have also existed—for example the Microcassette—the generic term ''cassette tape'' is normally used to refer to the Compact Cassette because of its ubiquity. From 1983 to 1991 the cassette tape was the most popular Timeline of audio formats, audio format for new Record sales, music sales in the United States. Compact Cassettes con ...
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