The main advantage of the RCA tape cartridge over reel-to-reel machines is convenience.

Because of these conveniences, the RCA tape cartridge system did see some success in schools, particularly in student language learning labs.

Such consumer reel-to-reel machines are capable of superior audio performance, but only at the faster speed.

It is possible to dismantle the cartridge, spool the tape onto an open reel, and play it on such a machine.

[4] The format was advertised nationally by RCA as late as fall 1964[7] and was continued into model year 1965 production.