"Surround Sound", Eight Tracks" and "Ana godda da vida "

You can generally guess the generation someone grew up in by the words in their audiophile vocabulary.
For me, I was definitely a vinyl 33 1/3" man until I later graduated to 8-tracks in the mid 60's. For those who never lived the experience of an eight track tape . Well, imagine what it was like when you got your first MP3 Player or IPOD. Eight tracks were revolutionary. For the first time you could actually hear the songs that you wanted without waiting for the radio to broadcast them over the A.M. dial. That's right. A.M. dial. We didn't have F.M. stations back in those days. But that was O.K., because what you didn't have, you didn't miss. One of the downsides of the eight track though, you had to wait until the tape completed the loop before you could hear your song again. That is if the tape player ever worked.
My first exposure to eight tracks was riding with a couple of fraternity brothers from the University of Oklahoma to Dayton, Ohio during Spring Break my freshman year.
We hadn't discovered Padre Island yet!
We listened to the Beatle's, Stone's, Beach Boys, and the Iron Butterfly's "Ana godda da vida" for 12 continuous hours.
The eight tracks didn't stay around very long though. As I mentioned earlier, the biggest reason was they rarely worked and the tapes would get tangled in the player spewing out a long trail of your favorite music. It was common to see hundreds of feet of tape flying around the street or caught to the underside of one's car.
After the eight tracks came the cassette tapes. The only cassette tapes I had were either ones that I had used my recorder to tape from the radio, or the one that Ford offered with the purchase of a new car. Oh yeah, I did buy KVIL's "Christmas Songs" because we would play them while opening presents. I can still hear that tinny sound that would start to slow down as the tape came near its end.
I kept up my collection of 33's though with the obligatory Carol King's "Tapestry" and the BeeGee's "Greatest Hits"
Today, I'm here to tell you that I now am the proud owner of both a MP3 player and what I just purchased this week at Fry's, a complete Home Entertainment Center with Dolby sound, Subwoofers, DVD player, AM and FM, etc. I'm still working to get the speakers at the right angles to get the full effect. Pattye has already nixed the idea of mounting anything on the walls. And, she said "can't you do anything with all of those wires". Everything should be in place later this afternoon.
By the way, guess what's on my MP3 player and will soon be blasting from my high tech surround sound? You guessed it. The Beatles, Stones and the 15 minute version of "Ana godda da vida". Can't wait to hear that drum solo.
Maybe technology changes, but great music lasts forever.