Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Humans like flaws. > When CDs first came out, people argued that they sounded "cold," even though they're near-perfect recreations of the music that was recorded. People like the hiss and compression of records and tapes. > This is also the same reason why people like Instagram filters. This sounds more like "hipsters like flaws." CDs absolutely ROFLstomped both vinyl and cassette very quickly once they became affo…
> People had the option of buying vinyl, CD or cassette in the mid-'90s, and they generally preferred CDs. While agree with you, you haven't proved that this is due to a CD's objectively better sound quality. CDs are also more convenient than either tapes or vinyl: vinyl is bulky and much easier than a CD to damage. Tapes are smaller but also easy to damage. Both wear out with use faster than digital media. Case in p…
I hadn't intended to, as that would be impossible. My point was more that "people preferred records and tapes for their flaws" is only clearly true of some early enthusiasts.
And it was not my experience that tapes were much easier to damage. Tapes were relatively durable unless you pulled the actual tape out of the cassette — and even then you usually got away with just minor signal degradation. CDs were extremely vulnerable to scratching, any scratch could render them pretty much unlistenable, and they were fairly brittle with a wide, thin surface area.