Old CDs wind up skipping, anyway-- "perfect sound forever" was a lie. Cassettes have their own problems, from unruly tape that you may need to tape together to inevitable disintegration, but there are certainly worse offenders. "Cassettes and vinyl are the analogue cockroaches to the nuclear Armageddon that is digital formats," Super Furry Animals' Rhys proclaims. "Back in the 90s when Super Furry Animals were starting out, we used to master tunes to digital DAT tapes if we didn't have the budget for reel to reel tapes. Most of these are unplayable today. The sound from them has seemingly vanished to thin air. I have had to remaster some back catalogue stuff from cassette copies-- which sounds great. It's unclear how long information will actually last in hard drives. In that sense it's always worth keeping a vinyl or cassette copy of a piece of music you truly cherish."
via pitchfork.com