If you want the cassette experience without the massive downsides of cassettes, pick up an old Minidisc recorder. Physical media that are nearly infinitely re-recordable (unused ones are expensive but used ones from Japan are not) and nearly indestructible. The NetMD ones have been bid up in price because of transfer speed but older ones that only do real-time transfers are not hideously expensive.
If there is one old format that actually should have a revival, it's minidisk. I was really holding out for their production keep on until that revival came but they gave up the ghost this year.
Tiny digital CDs packaged in little neon jewel floppy disks is the neotokyo future we all deserve.
Mix tapes were a very cool experience that a Spotify playlist can’t replicate. Beyond that, ask someone who wants it. I don’t, but they are a really cool piece of tech.
I still have a few specialty MD's from various brands such as the mona/bitclub; my last recorder was the RH1 and I regretted ever letting that unit go.
