Any risk to playing back 8-track cassettes on a 4-track?

[GetHimEatHim]

This is probably an incredibly dumb question BUT:

I need to take stock of some old 8-track cassettes to see what's on 'em. I don't have an 8-track cassette recorded (ie, a tascam 238 488 or 688) and I don't want to invest in one unless I'm sure that these tapes have everything I'd need on 'em.

I DO, however, have a working 4-track cassette recorder. If I were to put the 8-track cassettes in the 4-track machine just to play 'em back,

1) Would I be able to hear what's on 'em (assuming the playback speeds are roughly the same, etc)

and, more importantly,

2) Is there any particular risk that this would damage the 8-track cassettes?

THANKS, TEAM TAPE OP MESSAGE BOARD.

[rhythm ranch]

I won't cause any damage to the tape or the deck, but you may have some aural oddities. As you noted the tape speed may be off and also, on the Tascam units, the odd numbered and even numbered tracks are offset on the heads (see pic), which will throw the sync off.

[Gregg Juke]

Yeah, I'm thinking you won't have tracks line-up at all, but give it a go. Just make sure nothing is armed to record, and your tabs are broken out on the tapes, so there aren't any major accidents.

GJ

[shedshrine]

THANKS, TEAM TAPE OP MESSAGE BOARD.

Hey, I'm just happy to see my pictures show up from time to time to help explain stuff.

[rhythm ranch]