Endless-loop tape cartridge

An endless-loop tape cartridge contrasts with an Audio Cassette or Video Cassette in that, while those formats have a strip of tape that starts on one spool within the cassette and is unreeled from it onto a second spool as the tape plays, ultimately reaching the opposite end from which it then must be either rewound or flipped over to play the other side if it is a two-sided medium (as are audio but not video cassettes). On the other hand, endless-loop tapes can play continuously, as the "end" is attached to the "beginning". The 8-Track tape is the main form of this which was used, but a few other systems were devised with similar characteristics.

Types of endless-loop tape cartridges

 * 4-Track
 * 8-Track
 * Echo-matic (Cousino tape cartridge)
 * Orrtronics 8-Track