My earliest memories of interacting with music were of spinning 45s on a suitcase-style record player. The first piece of vinyl I remember owning was a Thin Lizzy 45 of "The Boys are Back in Town". Still love that song (and group) to this day. Anyway, my life-long love of music and music collecting began with vinyl.
I eventually graduated to full albums (Kiss, Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Rush, Led Zeppelin, etc.) and always on vinyl. Besides wanting the music, I wanted the whole package: artwork and liner notes. Early releases on cassette were an obvious afterthought for labels, with little attention paid to design and packaging.
Anyway...after growing up as an "elitist" (sneering at those who would settle for the inferior sound and inferior artwork offered by cassettes), I—of course—made the jump from vinyl to CD. Sure I made mixed tapes throughout the 80s and 90s, and obtained a few pre-recorded cassettes (as freebies from radio stations, record stores, etc.), but most of those wound up going in the bin.
Flash forward to...2016, or thereabouts, when I discovered Bandcamp. What a treat! With the demise of so many record stores, it was amazing to find a place where I could purchase actual physical products (from so many genres, and from so many places around the world). Through simply poking around, I happened to find a Black Metal band from Istanbul named Persucatory. Their debut album was offered on a red-shell cassette from a Polish label, and I also got the digital tracks from Bandcamp! What better way to listen to Black Metal than on low-fi cassette? Elitism be damned! I had to get it.
Since that time, I've picked up a few more cassettes along the way. Even found a few old ones (some of my own, and some owned by my parents). They still sound shitty, but I don't care (not that much). I certainly don't listen to them all that often. But I enjoy having them. There's certainly something special about physical objects. The design and the art are a part of what makes them special, but equally as important (I believe), is what they represent. For me, the cassettes I now own represent a time before the digital era. They represent a time when I had more time. They represent youth, and by extention, freedom.
I know that nostalgia is dangerous. I know that in order to be happy—and truly experience freedom—I must not look to the past, but embrace the eternal present. I know that. But I also know that art is important. Music is important. And if I can support artists by purchasing a tiny piece of plastic, I'm going to do it. Because that makes me happy.