I still own quite a bunch of cassette tapes. And a hi-fi cassette "deck".
There was an interesting article in the New York Times (a paper I often glance through online though I disagree with its politics) about the decline in cassettes. Vinyl sales are apparently growing, but cassette sales are dead. There are however two factors which the article pointed out that support the continuing use of cassette decks. User factors like these always interest me.
One is that people often have compilation tapes that they've made, or more importantly, which a sweetheart made for them. These have sentimental value. The number of compilation cassettes out there is one reason why people like to keep using their decks.
The other, which I hadn't thought of, is the talking book factor. Talking books are (or were until quite recently) almost always sold on cassette. The good thing about cassettes for this is the way they keep their place. You almost never want to "skip a track" on a talking book (which is the one thing cassettes are weakest at), and with a cassette, you can play it in your car or on your walkman, get home, take it out and bung it in the house cassette deck, and it will be in the same place! No CD can do that. Cassettes were perfect for audio books.
The factor they didn't mention, which in my opinion is fatal for cassettes, is the car one. Many old cars still have that cassette slot, so people keep the tapes to play in the car. But nobody sells a car with a cassette player any more. Once the older cars with legacy cassette decks disappear, that'll be it. (Same with DAB radio -- if/when all cars come with DAB radios, it will have won).
