Sales of cassettes are up more than 440 percent over the past decade. Cassette players (think modernized Walkmans) are also back, with companies producing new versions of this decidedly retro tech.
This “revenge of analog,”...is motivated by a combination of factors, from the practical to the more prosaic, and, ultimately, a more mindful use of technology. This approach rejects a binary of good vs. bad tech, and instead seeks a via media — a middle path — with its daily use.
Although I haven't done it as much with music, over the past few years I've been slowly rebuilding my analog media collection which includes movies and books. As the article mentions, part of that is ownership and actually owning the things I pay for. More importantly though, rather than scrolling through an endless catalog and never finding something to watch or read, I have a curated set of items to enjoy in a more mindful manner. If I feel the need to scroll through an endless catalog, there's always the library which has tons of media available. I find the library to be a heavily underutilized and almost forgotten community service we've all already paid for in some way, so why not use it.