apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

So you've ruled out vintage 8-track cabinets that come with right-sized storage slots?

To tidy these up, you need a cabinet that has its shelves closer together, so that you're only stacking the 8-tracks about 4 high before the next shelf. You'd still have a solid wall of tapes, but they'd topple and shift less, so they'd look neater.

This strikes me as a job for IKEA, since it's a cinch to equip a Billy with lots of shelves run close together (just buy a few extra shelves), plus you can put doors on it. Putting at least some of the tapes behind doors would also tidy the look and keep dust off them; or you could use the translucent doors and put doors on the whole cabinet. That's not the only product that would do the job, but it's the kind of clean, modern solution that you most likely need.

First, replace the case with something taller, and with better sag support.
- Display a changing selection of your tapes face out, with coordinating geegaws.
- Read some bookcase ideas
-- Try shelving by color :-)
- Print out a listing of your collection -- one or two items per page -- with space for written annotations by you and guests for each item.

Dear AT:

I enjoy pieces on how people display their collections of odd stuff I'd never have thought but to throw away. But this isn't that. This is you giving someone the stage and the mic to ask your devoted audience how they should display a collection of something so irrelevant that its name is a euphemism for obsolescence.

We don't care about 8-Tracks. Sue does. We care about our apartments. Sue should either impress us with how she made them relevant in her environment or leave us be until she can. But please don't ask us to invest in a box of junk that even your most invested reader (Sue) hasn't figured out what to do with. A dumpster diver without any idea what to do with his finds is just a garbage collector.

So, to Sue I say: display your collection of 8-Tracks in a box on the curb. Maybe another ATer will find them and figure out a totally unexpected and interesting way to repurpose or display them and then impress us with their photos.

(But Sue, I'm not all that unkind. I'll give you 50c for the soundtrack from "Convoy.")
MaxO

Whoever is not interested in 8-tracks is actually not forced to read the post (clearly labeled in the title), and can therefore avoid being both unkind and crabby.

Oh -- and one other thought -- if you go with a more flexible and nicer-looking bookcase, look for shelves that are about the same width as your 8-track spines. The narrowness of your shelves is part of why the current bookcase looks like it's going to collapse under its load -- you're picking up an optical illusion even if there's no actual sag.

I would pick a small selection of favourites and frame them in shadow boxes. Hang them in a grouping, and store the rest of the collection out of sight. Rotate in and out of frames at will.

It's about quality, not quantity, right?

The easiest, and cheapest thing to do, is arrange them by color. All the red labels together, etc. Then, if the range in colors is subtle enough, arrange the groups by color. (Pink next to red) After that, don't let the space be all about the tapes. Separate the tapes by square elements. (Craft stores like Michaels have really cheap vases in very interesting shapes. You could then fill the vases with solid color items.) If the shelves in the book case are adjustable by use of that vertical metal system, get more shelves. Note to Max Othermoxx, this site is about sharing expertise and passions, not bad moods.

wow, Max Othermoxx. take a pill.

one of the reasons i come to this site is for creative ideas on how to deal with my *stuff*. to see how other people handle issues connected to clutter, storage, decor, and style. i have exactly one (1) eight-track tape, so while i may not share sue's dilemma, i can take inspiration from the answers that address her problem. if you're so narrow minded that you can't see applicability of this storage solution to other areas, perhaps this isn't the site for you.

Oh Lois. Oh Joan. 'Tis the death knell of a good website, this sort of inflationary language. For a thing is to be called a "Good Question", it ought at least be a question, the answer to which we have once wondered at and the solution to which might be immediately useful to someone aside from she who posed it.

But, again, this is not that. This is a highly esoteric question which might prompt some interesting discussion about storing an item virtually no one has. And that in turn might be adaptable to other storage solutions for similar sized or shaped items (e.g., canned sardines) which belong in the same room of the house (scratch canned sardines). But have we really so exhausted our need for storage solutions for things people actually have that we are now moving onto items several degrees removed from what we have or care about?

I love this site, or I did. And I am surprised no one else sees that this is not a "Good Question." It is a request for help with a unique storage problem. Collectibles are interesting because the people who collect them make them interesting. I usually love seeing people's collections because their collectors' attention and devotion justifies their asking for my attention. But this collector has demonstrated neither attention nor devotion. She is asking for our help and has not done her part. This is where AT goes from being a useful interactive home/decor/lifestyle magazine to a highly esoteric hobbyist help page.

But if this is what AT is to become, shall we next ask our fellow readers to propose the best solutions for mounting the 8-Track player Sue removed from the dash of her father's 1977 Ford Truck alongside her B&O Stereo? Shall we spend some time on that too? Is that a "Good Question" too.

If we can't encourage quality control, oughtn't we at least ask that things be labelled correctly? It wasn't a good question. It was just a question.

i agree with wende on the billy shelves.

another fun idea (after arranging by color of course--black tapes at the bottom) would be to sort through the tapes and find ones that have particularly compelling graphics/colors and enlarge them on a color photocopier-- and use these to cover the doors (especially if you can find a case that has plain wooden shelves.)

or, make a display shelf on the front like "wretched to retro" in the january jumpstart that has a plexi pocket so you can "feature" a tape?

I have never held an 8-track in my hand or seen one in my entire life (CD girl) so I'm not sure what else to suggest... a library card cabinet?

File cabinet, organized by Artist

I would put a narrow shelf somewhere visible to showcase a few at a time, and put the rest in chest of drawers, away from view. Rotate a few times a month to showcase different tapes.

Thanks to everyone for their helpful suggestions, especially Wende. Your idea of putting shelves closer together is a great idea and seems to me to be the obvious solution. I didn't have this problem in my old aparment because it had lovely built in shelves with glass doors. But since I no longer have them I've been experimenting with ways to display them, and haven't been successful up to this point, which is why I came here in the first place.

I thought that this would be a great place to exchange ideas on how to improve my living space. I really didn't expect to be judged so harshly by Max. I know that many folks roll their eyes when I mention my 8-tracks, but seriously, the shelves made my place look messy and I was only looking for some creative ideas, not a criticism of my collection.

Oh, I forgot to mention in my last post that I'll be sure to post new pics of my collection, once I get new shelves. Thanks again to everyone who was so helpful!

I am sure Max will be available to help you sort your collection and make decisions about display priorities.
:-)

Unless you are going to re-label them all to make the spines match I suggest you house them in something with doors - in their current condition no matter what kind of shelves you put them on they are always going to look a mess - the same type of item you have now but with doors would eliminate your problem instantly.

Just because something is esoteric, it's still a fun problem, and I like seeing people apply their creativity here to all types of problems, from the common to the esoteric.

I would shelve them sideways in cd shelves, so the spines are vertical. I even have some old solid-wood cd shelves I was going to craigslist, so Sue, if you're interested, let me know.

oh, but you're in philly. i'm in NJ.

do you also have a collection of awesome 8-track players? i drool over those old panasonic ones.

Hi edgertor,

I used to have an old panasonic player (not working) but I ended up selling it on Ebay so that I could get a 2XL robot that plays 8tracks (something from my childhood, that I really wanted). Are you referring to the panasonic players that look like a detonator? They are the best. I also have a Weltron 2001 which looks like a giant bowling ball with a handle, and an Aquatron (which is also called the egg). The main reason I even collect the tapes is because of the really cool looking players, plus the fact that I love the music from that period as well!

Sue

i love the plunger kind and there were some others that the sound-holes for the speaker fanned out in a super MOD graduated dot pattern.

I gave up my 8 track collection a long time ago (keeping about 5-6 i feel sentimental about, the free jazz and new wave ones, and one of egyptian easy listening!) b/c i just didn't have the space any more.

would love to see your 8-track player collection displayed!

Once I get my 8tracks in order and have a nice display for the my players, I'll be sure to post some pics. I have hundreds of 8tracks, but I'm currently going through the collection and only keeping those tapes that I actually listen to...the rest are headed for Ebay.