I am a young guy, but I'm old enough that when I was a kid my principle form of listening to music was cassette tapes. So I know where you are coming from here.

I am a young guy, but I'm old enough that when I was a kid my principle form of listening to music was cassette tapes. So I know where you are coming from here. However, I am also an audio engineer, and have mastered a lot of records for bands that have ended up releasing them as cassettes. In my opinion, your analysis lacks one or two components that are essential to the "cassette" experience: 1. Sonic Artifacts - Some bands dig the warpy, tinny sound. I'm not personally a fan, but I'm a bit biased. 2. Tape Compression - A lot of bands simply cannot, or choose not to, control their dynamics, causing clipping to occur. On an old-school straight-to-tape recording setup, this clipping will sound far better than the harsh, horrible digital clipping found in today's digital setups. 3. Playback Setting - In my experience, the typical consumer of today's cassette tapes is not playing the album through a hi-fi system. They're probably using a portable jambox that they took out of their mom's attic or one they picked up one day at their local Goodwill/pawn shop. Fidelity is nowhere near important to this individual, and they probably wouldn't fret very much if their junky/old equipment got damaged or stopped working.