The people who have never seen a reel-to-reel tape deck are already avidly using Apple technology. They may puzzle over this aspect of the UI, but they already

The people who have never seen a reel-to-reel tape deck are already avidly using Apple technology. They may puzzle over this aspect of the UI, but they already know how to make it work with the more familiar controls (which are also available). Meanwhile older, perhaps less technically savvy users have a real-world analog to explain what's going on in the app. So, no harm for the savvy youths, some possible benefit for the older newbies.