Cassettes have never given me an issue except for a few of the old white shell ones. For some reason, those were so prone to dragging and horrific sound quality.
On the 8-track side of things, I have yet to have a problem with ones from RCA Music Service. I have some my parents bought new from...
I still own some, though they don't see everyday play. The record club releases were of decent quality, so those are usually keepers. My main thing, though, has been to catch them at thrift stores for 50¢ or $1 and see if I like it well enough to invest in another format of the tape. If not, it...