Developed as a car accessory to give drivers an alternate to listening to radio stations so they could listen to their own song selections. Motorola manufactured the first players, which were installed in Ford automobiles. Many record companies were quick to put many of their artists on the new format, but by the mid 1970's, most record labels had stopped producing music in 8-Track tape format because the quality was not good and they were bulky and inconvenient. Cassette tapes and vinyl records replaced 8-Tracks by the late 1970's.