I grew up with analog audio, and still have most of my dad’s late 70s “high tech” equipment, about a hundred vinyl records (mostly 33s with a few 45s), and several boxes of audio cassettes. Given the chance… I wouldn’t go back. That era had some severe issues that we just had to deal with because it was the best that contemporary technology could offer.

• Magnetic tapes have a finite shelf life. If not stored in a dry and cool place, the polyurethane tape absorbs moisture, which ruins the binder and the ferromagnetic coating falls off. Eventually the tape itself disintegrates.
• Magnetic tapes are susceptible to mechanical damage, they naturally stretch, and they can scratch if the rollers are dirty.
• They are also obviously vulnerable to electromagnetic fields.
• Playback quality is strongly dependent on the recording equipment, the magnetic medium’s quality, and the playback device.
• Even though the compact cassette is the icon of media sharing, copying is never 1:1 and always incurs a loss in quality.
• The best achievable audio quality can’t physically reach the quality of most digital recordings because of the granularity/resolution of the medium and the noise introduced by the pickup and amplifier circuits. The same is true for vinyl records: the superior audio quality is just a myth.