I mean, yes they do wear out but the rate is pretty slow if you look after them. I have some of my father’s old early LPs and they still sound pretty good.
replyYou can get rid of a surprising amount of surface noise with a static gun and a line contact stylus (where shape is close to that of a cutting head so you get the biggest contact patch).
I think most people only copied to cassette if they want to use a Walkman, play it in the car or give a copy to a friend. It generally wasn’t for sound quality.
He said tape not cassette. Tape would mean real to real tape in this context - cassette doesn't make sense. Tape can be wider than cassette, only two tracks, and run faster - all give you a lot better sound quality. Not as good as a good digital system and it costs more but still very good.
replyI actually still have an old Grundig reel to reel somewhere, although I can't claim it as ever really hifi.
replyI would stand by recording to reel to reel tape for quality being even less common recording to cassette tape.
Quality domestic reel to reel decks were just not that widely owned here. Maybe it was different where you lived.