Many of you will remember eight track tapes, once very popular for automobile and boating use. Many more of you youngsters will not remember them, they became pretty much obsolete around 1980. However, for almost two decades they were the medium of choice for automotive applications.
The eight track tape did not just “happen”, but was developed from other inventions. It turns out that demand was increasing for high fidelity sound in cars in the late 1950s. FM radio was just getting started (the FCC had only approved FM stereo in 1951), and lots of folks wanted better (and more to their own taste) quality music. Thus, the eight track tape was developed.