An argument between two strong-willed inventors — Bill Lear and Earl “Madman” Muntz — sparked the world’s first mobile app. Here, for the first time, is the story behind the development of the 8 Track tape player. In late 1965, consumers had two ready options for listening to recorded music — a radio or a record player. But with baby boomers just coming of age in the 1960s, along with new advances in magnetic tape and an explosion of music, Lear and his team ignored the naysayers and developed the 8 Track tape player and tape cartridges. Through a friendship with Henry Ford II, chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Co., Lear lined up his first customer. Lear also convinced David Sarnoff, chairman of RCA Victor, to dedicate 175 albums to the new medium. But Ford’s powerful product planners were not convinced Lear could develop a combined AM radio and 8 Track tape player from scratch (hence the first mobile app). Enter Motorola, which was desperate to keep its share of Ford work by bringing forward a novel music playback system. As Ford, Motorola, RCA, and Lear worked through their separate interests, they launched the 8 Track against stiff resistance. Many of the major record labels were reluctant to support the new medium given the associated costs of design, copyrights, materials, production, distribution, and marketing. But for consumers, artists, musicians, and engineers, the 8 Track represented the Holy Grail of a mobile music experience, and millions of dollars in sales. Here, for the first time, is the inside story.
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