And to think I just threw a bunch of these in the trash when I was cleaning out my Mother’s house….
Today — when you can literally take your music anywhere — it’s hard to imagine a time when that wasn’t possible. So, if you’re old enough, cast your mind back 40 years or so. Remember 8-track tapes? In the 1960s and early ’70s, they were the way that millions of Americans took their music with them. Now, a museum devoted to the obsolete format is open in Dallas, Texas.
Bucks Burnett is its proprietor. He caught the 8-track bug when he was rummaging through bins at a garage sale in 1988 and something caught his eye: the Beatles’ White Album on 8-track tape.
“And so I’m thinkin’ ‘I’ll get this for 50 cents.’ And I said, ‘How much for the 8-track?’ And the guys says, ‘$7.’ And I said, ‘No, the 8-track? How much for the 8-track?’ And he said, ‘$7.’ I said, ‘Will you take five?’ He said, ‘Put it back in the box.’ I said, ‘OK, wait a minute. Why is this 8-track $7?’ And he said, ‘It’s the Beatles. It’s the White Album. Where you gonna find another one?’ And I gave him $7.”
More than 3,000 8-tracks later, Burnett’s collection is so large he opened the 700 square foot Eight Track Museum (take a video tour). He displays between 500 and 1,000 tapes, as well as an example of every type of physical recorded music from the wax cylinders of the 1800s to the iPod.
Lost in the 21st Century 