Vinyl and Cassettes
tl;dr Nostalgia and multisensory experience
In my early days, I've seen and listened to a number of formats: children's stories on 7" records, Soviet music on 12" LPs, various "Best of" compilations on compact cassettes -- and the same on CDs later on. There were a few years when our family went on a so-called "media upgrade" where we'd give away or just trash old media after getting the same thing on newer formats. And when digital came -- oh boy, did we end up getting rid of stuff. What a silly thing, in hindsight!
I'm happy that 10+ years later I could begin rebuilding my music library, with cassettes and records. As time went by, we stopped owning copies of music, and instead obtained ephemeral playback licenses, which publishers could revoke on a whim. This made having actual recordings on physical storage (even if it's a hard-disk drive) so much more important for archival and preservation.
They say today you can't make money partnering with streaming services, as they pay mere cents for listens, and unless you have tens of thousands of them -- it's not feasible in the least. This makes merch, music included, a nice way to support your favorite artist.
Having a material piece of a favorite band is something I started valuing over time, especially when I got into photography and drawing. Listening to an album on a cassette, CD, or vinyl feels to me a richer experience, when you can appreciate thoughtfulness and artistic skill put into the object itself, in addition to the sound recording. Whether it's a record, infused with vinyl of different colors, the choice of paper on a J-card, or surprise stickers hidden in a jewel case -- for me, it creates a stronger connection to the musician's vision of the album.
Sadly, I had to leave lots of music back in Moscow when I was moving out of the country. Interestingly, my Canadian library leans towards cassettes, and I had most of my collection in records back home. Perhaps, cassettes are cheaper? The cost of living here is substantially higher -- yet, that's a topic for another day.
Enjoy music, care about recordings 💿🐾✨