Cassettes were originally a medium for dictation devices in the pre-digital era. Advent changed everything when they added Dolby Noise Reduction to the equation. Cassettes worked great for making low fi copies of the music on LPs. They were also great for listening in the car. In parts of the underdeveloped world (and Russia) cassettes continue to be popular for disseminating music that would otherwise be available for music fans. They have also had a resurgence among music fans who love the low fi sound. If you are listening to music at home on a high quality stereo system then cassettes are unlikely to cut it for you. I do have to chuckle when I think about all of the effort that Nakamichi put into making cassette decks for audiophiles. They were working with a medium with an inherently low ceiling, fidelity-wise.
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