Endless-loop tape cartridge
From Just Solve the File Format Problem
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
