Unlike a cassette, an 8-track cartridge held a single continuous loop of tape wound around one spool. The tape pulled from the center of the reel, ran past the play head, and wound back onto the outside of that same spool, over and over, with no direction to flip and no second reel to rewind onto. That loop was divided into eight tracks — four pairs of left/right stereo tracks called “programs.” A typical album was split across those four programs so the tape could play in an endless loop, cycling from Program 1 through Program 4 and back to Program 1 again.
The Real Reason 8-Track Tapes Cut Off Mid-Song
