While it will probably never make a comeback like the vinyl record, there is still something to be said for the humble cassette tape. While the audio quality was certainly not up to the pristine standard of the CD, cassette tapes were cheap, sturdy, and most importantly, could not get scratched. Sure, you would have a faulty cassette player eat your favorite tape from time to time, but for me, those instances were few and far between.
There were two aspects of listening to music on tape that were appealing to me. The first was that due to the technological limitations of not being able to efficiently or quickly skip to any track one wanted, the cassette tape was more conducive to listening to an album straight through. The second was the mixed tape. In a world where the Internet was just a method for academic types to transfer files, mixed tapes shared amongst friends were a way to be introduced to new music.
While I am glad we now have more modern and convenient ways to listen to music, I will always be fond of the humble cassette.