Convenience, too. This overlaps a lot with portability, but cassettes made it feasible to listen to your music in, say, the kitchen, a picnic, or, most critical

Convenience, too. This overlaps a lot with portability, but cassettes made it feasible to listen to your music in, say, the kitchen, a picnic, or, most critically I think, the car. If good sound quality is also within reach then (the various Dolby NR systems helped with that), cassettes made a lot of sense overall.