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You couldn't just listen to the same music track on repeat - you had to rewind at the end before you could listen to it again.
Interestingly, 8-Tracks didnt need to be rewound, they could keep continuously playing and it would loop back on its own.
Was there a pause while it re-wound the tape?
No, the tape is an endless loop, the end is the same as the beginning.
It had 4 or 8 "streams" on it an once and the tape head would move down a notch once one loop completed. It has eight tracks, but if it was in stereo, then each layer would use one for the left side audio and one for the right side. You could skip between songs instantly, but you would be in the middle of whatever other songs were in that spot.
I still use my old quadrphonic 8-track for my speaker amp, though the 8-track tapes themselves are all worn out.
I keep "Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk" by Meco loaded in the player, but I haven't tried playing it in years out of fear.
It was neat though because the 4 channels were different layered tracks, so you could custom mix the music as it played using the quadraphics.