PLAYTAPE - THE 2-TRACK ALTERNATIVE (con't).
by Lynn Fuller

In September of 1967, PlayTapes were distributed in five distinctive color cartridges in the following categories:

• Red cartridge - equivalent to the 45 r.p.m. "single" - $1.00
• Black cartridge - equivalent to a 4-song EP - $1.49
• Blue cartridge - children's albums - $1.00 - $1.50
• White cartridge - 8 songs like an LP - $2.98
• Gray cartridge - talk and educational - $1.00 - $1.50

In its heyday of 1967 and 1968, the personalities in the PlayTape inventory reads like a "Who's Who" in the entertainment world. In the popular music category were such greats as Frank and Nancy Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Connie Stevens, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Wayne Newton, Judy Garland, Nancy Wilson, Petula Clark, Connie Francis, Ella Fitzgerald, Eddie Gorme, Steve Lawrence and hundreds others.

The rock n roll category includes such names as the Beatles, the Animals, the Supremes, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Grateful Dead, the Mamas and Papas, the Righteous Brothers, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder.

Also in the PlayTape inventory were the standards - Herb Alpert, Sergio Mendes and an assortment of current Country music hit artist. The total number of artists available on PlayTape at the beginning of 1968 was over 3,000!

A big boost to the PlayTape format was a contract in April of 1967 to license the entire Motown catalog. Previously, Motown had only once licensed their entire catalog to Ampex in the open-reel format. Another boost was a contact with Pepsi to promote the youth market. Pepsi offered a PlayTape unit for $12.95 plus 6 cork liners from Pepsi cans. Pepsi promotion increased the sale of PlayTape cartridges almost twofold.

The PlayTape format targeted two distinct markets - the youth music market and the business market. For whatever reasons the business market never took hold. The music market enjoyed a limited success. The PlayTape was limited to two tracks, and even though there were several car units they never really targeted the car audio market as did Mr. Muntz and Mr. Lear. Both of these factors helped lead to Playtape's demise. PlayTape leveraged its company in the direction of educational and business fields rather than entertainment. LearJet and Muntz both introduced portable players for their formats in the late 1960's, which stripped PlayTape of its unique portability selling point. Consumers had to commit to a uniform format and PlayTape was not to be the choice. PlayTape did however enjoy several more years in the limelight in Europe, most notably Germany.

Collectors of the PlayTape format should look for the following:

• Most PlayTape entertainment cartridges were marketed in sealed "bubble paks" that could be hung on a rack in the store. Original sealed paks are very collectable.
• Any car PlayTape unit is very collectable.
• PlayTape carts or players in the business field and childrens tapes are very rare.
• As with other formats, Beatles, Stones and other big name groups are the most desirable.
• Discarton Limited released a portable unit in 1968 which played both 45 records and PlayTapes. This unit is considered the most collectable PlayTape unit.

PlayTapes are an important part in the history of cartridge tape formats. Although short lived in their existence, PlayTapes offer the collector a challenge in preserving this unique format.

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