Beatles Two Track Tapes

PlayTape Inc. was the manufacturer of two track tapes. Usually, they are referred to as Playtapes. Most people have never seen a Playtape and wouldn't know what to make of one if they saw it. One resembled a miniature 8 track or 4 track and contained (usually) four songs in mono. Playtapes with white shells (in the 3000 series) were intended to have eight songs; Playtapes with red shells were intended to have two songs like a single. No Beatles-related tapes with red shells are known, and only one known Beatles Playtape has a white shell. They were the precursor to today's cassette single and were intended to be somewhat disposable. You'd carry the machine with you to the beach or in your car. The origins of the Playtape were at one time considered obscure but were carefully researched by Lynn Fuller in the 1990's. The first Beatles Playtapes appeared on the scene in mid or late 1967. These continued to be manufactured until 1969, when stereo Playtapes were supposed to become available. There are several known players for Playtapes, which vanished mysteriously, never to reappear on the market. Apparently, when Capitol was working on its licensing for tapes in 1969, they decided to cancel the Playtapes. Perhaps this contributed to the death of the format, which does not seem to have survived much beyond that point.

Most Beatles Playtapes can be found with the photograph of the US "Hello Goodbye" picture sleeve on them. Some have plain white covers with black typing. Others actually picture something relating to the material contained therein. These different pressings are detailed below.

A listing of KNOWN Beatles Playtapes is given below. If you have any others, please photograph them and send the photos to me. Beatles Playtape Pressings "Black and White" It is now my certain belief that all Beatles Playtapes prior to c. 600 (late 1967) were issued originally on black and white labels with no graphics. Click here to see the label of a first issue "black and white" Playtape. "Hello Goodbye" In late 1967, around the time of the "Hello Goodbye" single, Playtape began adding graphics to their labels. At this time, Capitol sent the graphics for the "Hello Goodbye" picture sleeve, and this became the photo used on all Beatles Playtapes. Select this link to view a photo of the "Hello Goodbye" issue. Since this issue is the most common among Beatles tapes, in the listings below I will mention only the color of the background. E.g., "red background" means that the tape has the "Hello Goodbye" PS photo in front of a red background. "Color Bar" Later in 1968, Playtape (c. 800's), Playtape made a few changes. One of those changes involved printing the Playtape number (No. 0797, for example) above the word "Playtape" on the label. Knowing that stereo was replacing mono, Playtape began using the stereo catalog numbers on their labels. A smaller bar of color is commonly found across the middle of the label of this issue. The Beatles, Vol. 1 tape shown above is an example of this issue Playtape. "Cover" Near Spring of 1969, Playtape started putting individualized graphics on each Playtape. Often, this included the album cover art. The Yellow Submarine tape shown above is an example of the "cover" issue Playtape. The listings now reflect this belief. Even where I know of no copies of a particular issue, I will mention it -- since I am certain of its existence. However, the listings will indicate "none known" where this is the case. The following Playtapes were issued originally with black and white labels: Beatles '65 No. 0461 first issue: black and white label Beatles '65 No. 0461 second issue: green, yellow, or orange background known Beatles VI No. 0528 first issue: black and white label Beatles VI No. 0528 second issue: green, yellow, or orange background known Help! No. 0529 first issue: black and white label Help! No. 0529 second issue: green, orange, or yellow background known Help! No. 0529 third issue: blue stripe known; has photo from the album Rubber Soul No. 0530 first issue: black and white label; none known Rubber Soul No. 0530 second issue: green or orange background known Yesterday and Today No. 0531 first issue: black and white label; none known Yesterday and Today No. 0531 second issue: green background, orange, or yellow background known Revolver No. 0532 first issue: black and white label; "Eleanor Rigby" is shown as "All the Lonely People" Revolver No. 0532 second issue: red or blue background known Meet the Beatles No. 0538 first issue: black and white label Second Album No. 0539 first issue: black and white label Second Album No. 0539 second issue: red background known Something New No. 0540 first issue: black and white label Something New No. 0540 second issue: red background or blue background known Early Beatles No. 0541 first issue: black and white label Early Beatles No. 0541 second issue: green background, blue background, or pink background known Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band No. 0542 first issue: black and white label Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band No. 0542 second issue: red background or blue background known Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band No. 0542 second issue: lavender background known; stereo catalog number Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band No. 0542 third issue: color bar across label (orange or red color known); stereo catalog number Second Album No. 0575 first issue: black and white label Second Album No. 0575 second issue: green, tan, orange, or olive background known Meet the Beatles No. 0576 first issue: black and white label Meet the Beatles No. 0576 second issue: orange, olive, green, or yellow background known Second Album SUSPECTED No. 0577 Something New SUSPECTED No. 0578 Early Beatles No. 0579 first issue: black and white label; none known Early Beatles No. 0579 second issue: light green or yellow background known Beatles VI No. 0580 first issue: black and white label Beatles VI No. 0580 second issue: yellow background or orange background known Help! No. 0581 first issue: black and label Help! No. 0581 second issue: yellow background known Rubber Soul No. 0582 first issue: black and white label; none known Rubber Soul No. 0582 second issue: yellow background or orange background known Yesterday and Today No. 0583 first issue: black and white label Yesterday and Today No. 0583 second issue: green, orange, yellow, or rust background known Revolver No. 0584 first issue: b/w label, title of one song is wrong Revolver No. 0584 second issue: yellow background known, misspelling remains Revolver No. 0584 second issue: green or orange background known, misspelling corrected Second Album No. 0600 first (?) issue: green, orange, or yellow background known Eight-Song Extended Playtape The only known eight-song Playtape containing Beatles songs is United Artists' Hard Day's Night. It is also the only tape that's not on Capitol. Hard Day's Night No. 3111 first issue: black and white label The following Playtapes were issued originally with colored backgrounds and "Hello Goodbye" picture sleeve photo: Beatles '65 No. 0654 first issue: green, yellow, orange, or beige background known Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band No. 0796 first issue: lavender background known Magical Mystery Tour No. 0797 first issue: lavender, blue, or red background known Magical Mystery Tour No. 0797 second issue: green or orange color bar across label and photo from the Help album. Magical Mystery Tour No. 0797 third issue: features the album cover photo. The photo below was provided by Mark Galloway. The following Playtapes first came out in the "color bar" style or with larger cover graphics: The Beatles, Vol. 1 No. 0955 The Beatles, Vol. 2 No. 0956 The Beatles, Vol. 3 No. 0957 The Beatles, Vol. 4 No. 0958 The Beatles, Vol. 5 No. 0959 The above White Album tapes feature the four photos from the album and green color bars across the covers Yellow Submarine No. 0972 features the album cover photo; blue or pink graphics known Wonderwall Music (G) No. 0989 features the album cover photo. Has Capitol logo. This is the only known solo Beatles playtape. Two Playtapes by the Hollyridge Strings also exist. Number 0609 is Beatles Songbook Vol. 2. The other is from their first Beatle album and is No. 0610: "I Want to Hold Your Hand" +3. At least two non-Beatles, non-solo Apple Playtapes have been verified to exist. These are: Mary Hopkin Post Card No. 1030 features the album cover photo. Has Capitol logo Jackie Lomax Is This What You Want? No. 1049 features the album cover photo. Has Apple logo The values are almost uniform at $60 apiece, more if they are found sealed in their original packaging. The Magical Mystery Tour with "Help!" photos goes for $60-$75. Yellow Submarine, Hard Day's Night, and Wonderwall Music are all scarce to rare and are valued at $100 each or more. A sealed copy of Wonderwall Music recently sold for over $300. The "cover photo" copy of Magical Mystery Tour is also rare. The James Taylor tape recently sold for $250. A steady rise in price for all non-Beatles-related Playtapes has also been noted, with even the less known artists' tapes selling for $10 each or more. Playtapes are even more so the forgotten format than the reel tape, four track, or pocket disc. Any help compiling a more complete listing of ALL Playtapes would be appreciated. Back to Across the Universe Beatles Lost Formats -- Playtapes Frank Daniels © 1996, 2008 Frank Daniels