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Hi, Sarah, I have an RCA cartridge if you want to have one for show and tell. One thing to remember, is at least the RCA cartridge used 1/4-inch tape, ran at 3.75 in/s and used the standard 1/4-track stereo format with tracks 1 & 3 being left and right on each side. The tapes come out nicely with a special threading pattern on my APR-5003s and then I play them like any other 1/4-track tape, though they do have artifacts from poorly seated cartridges. I don't know the track format of the Revere cartridge, but I suspect that it, too, is a 1/4-track stereo format. It was single spool (like DLT/S-AIT/LTO data tape today) and about 3-4 inches square-ish. I am unaware of the Garrard and CBS systems. Please tell me more. Prior to the 8-track, there was the Muntz 4-track in a cartridge similar to an NAB broadcast cartridge. The NAB broadcast cartridge was in use for many years and was available in both mono and stereo, both with a cue track. Pacific Recorders and Engineering (now part of Harris) made a product called "TomCat" that used wider heads for the audio and a narrower cue-tone track. 4-track (Muntz) and NAB cartridges had pinch roller in the machine, 8-tracks had pinch roller in the cartridge. The stereo NAB cartridges used 3 tracks about 42 mils wide. The mono NAB cartridge used two 82 mil tracks just like 2-track tape. I might be able to get you an NAB cartridge as a sample. I just missed a Muntz cartridge on eBay -- but it was Beatles, so the price was higher than it needed to be. Cheers, Richard At 10:20 AM 6/18/2003 -0400, you wrote: >In Alan Ward's "A Manual of Sound Archive Administration" there are >references to the beginnings of the audio cassettes or "encased 'talking >books'" (p.163) beginning with RCA's 1958 cassette system, followed by >Garrard in 1959, and then CBS in 1961. > >I am seeking additional information on any other cassette formats in these >transitional years 1960-1970 before the Philips compact cassette and the >8-track tape become standards in the market. I have not been able to find >much more than Ward's introduction. > >Ward goes on to state "expert knowledge of obsolete cassette types is >unlikely to enjoy much application as the chance of finding a compatible >machine is remote and only a small minority were used in any quantity for >other than prerecorded commercial releases" (p171). Be that as it may, I am >currently developing a pictorial guide to audio formats that I hope to go >beyond the commonplace formats (much like my guide to videotape formats at >www.video-id.com ) > >This information will be presented at the Sound Savings preservation >conference in Austin next month, so any leads on other obsolete cassette >formats would be greatly appreciated (and acknowledged). > >Best, >Sarah > >Sarah Stauderman >Preservation Manager >Smithsonian Institution Archives >MRC 414 Room 2135 A&I >202-357-1421 x 56 (telephone) >202-357-2395 (fax) >[log in to unmask]