Applying just a bit of logic, you might realise that the servers where music and movies can be stored is also an important backbone piece of infrastructure that also enables pretty much the Internet and all the services that exist there.

Can the same be said for tape decks?

The transportation and polymer industries that you pinned on cassettes both have wide reaching uses, yes.

Yeah that's not what his point was about though.

In any case:
There are different sounds to every medium, but for most people (including me) it's definitely mostly about the aesthetic. There's nothing wrong with that. For me it lies in childhood memories because my grandpa and my mom used to play me lps when I was a kid. And also the reason I started buying records is that some things aren't available in digital form, or if they are, not for free. And if I'm gonna pay for music I want the fun physical object. But yeah, the snobbishness that some people feel about it is nonsense

Alright, I'll concede. Please then, if you can, what is the point you're trying to make?

Edit:

I'll clarify my own; we can pollute less by not producing physical mediums (besides servers/data storage) for distributing media like books, movies and music.

Cassettes are fine.

Pff, knew it.

Well, he can say, but it seems to me that it was exactly what his point was about. He seemed to be responding to the statement about the “inconvenience of the physical medium and the maintenance required.” Yeah, why go to all of that physical inconvenience when you can just switch over to an online source to get what you want to see or hear.

My main contention was that this seems more like a bad faith way to justify not liking vinyl or tapes than an environmental concern. Maybe jwb introduced that though, bad faith discourse is his jam.

Seems? You just assume I'm insincere and that this invalidates my argument? I'm not sure if this scores me any sincerity points, but I'm a biologist, worked pollution cases for years for the local government and the only car we ever bought was an electric. I used to bike a lot. I feel like I care about the environment.

I am a vinyl collector, or used to be. The turntable's right in our living room. I love playing vinyls and checking out vinyl shops. However, most of what I have by far is second hand and today, it's very rare for me to buy new pressings. Tapes I still remember, so yeah.. I'll readily admit I hate those and that probably colours my attitude towards them.

My feelings have changed over the years, hence the phrasing used to. I might add that I think music production in general is stupidly nostalgic. For example, I have lots of music software emulating old HW units. Like, if I wanna use a software compressor, I find myself blindly trying to turn old fashioned knobs with my mouse pointer. At some point, I realized how dumb that is, especially when there are better and more modern software out there like fabfilters pro-C2 that think more about new possibilities than being constricted by the past.

I can't really know your thought process for certain so I used that qualifier.

Yes. Because you aren't realistically criticizing the environmental impact of digital media you're posing as an alternative, I assume that you're using the environmental impact of traditional media to justify your opinion as opposed to informing it. Working backwards from opinion to fact often leads to ignoring relevant factors at hand. It's something we all do and is not as intentional as my phrasing makes it sound.

I will need to see your Official Environmental Appreciator License to be convinced otherwise. Logical consistency will also do.

Agreed on the nostalgia in music production and music in general at least. Reminds me of a Schoenberg quote on theory