Illinois Man Has the World’s Largest 8-Track Tape Collection [VIDEO]
Boston, Tony Orlando & Dawn, KISS. The memories of all the 8-track tapes I owned as a kid are flooding back.
An Illinois man has thousands of 8-track tapes, all stored and cataloged in his basement and garage. He's believed to have the world's largest collection of the now-obsolete tape format.
Bob Hiemenz began collecting 8-track tapes (also known as 8-track cartridges or simply 8-tracks) when he found a couple of tapes stashed inside a console stereo he purchased at a thrift store. His neighbor then gave him some that were otherwise headed for the landfill and Bob was off to the races.
The 8-track was a continuous loop of tape inside a hard plastic cartridge. It had four stereo programs (for a total of eight tracks) that played in succession. You could switch between programs but because of the way the tape was packed inside the cartridge, rewinding was not possible. The format died out in the early 80s as cassettes proved to be more compact and reliable.
Bob Seger, ELO, Glen Campbell. I took advantage of the Columbia House '12 tapes for a penny' offer countless times.
Hiemenz estimates his collection to be a total of 93,337 8-tracks.
He tells WAND-TV that all the tapes are in working order. He even has an extensive collection of 8-track players or as they were commonly known, 8-track tape decks.
“My wife keeps telling me, ‘Why don’t you get on eBay and start selling them?’ I said, "I might do that, haven’t yet.'”
Peter Frampton, Cher, Journey. Oh, those were the days.