I suppose this discussion is even more relevant now with the Switch too =p I do like the performance boosts available from cartridges, I think that's what makes the difference to me. Only makes it a bit more expensive anyway.

Yeah, I wouldn't consider most of those world beaters lol. But even out of those, how many were same day and date? I know Destruction Derby 64 came out 4 years later.

Eitherway, I personally don't remember having to choose between the two versions. 

I prefer discs.

Cartridges are too small, CDs are much easier to handle and keep track off.
Why pay more for the storage if you can't even put a decent picture on the postage stamp.
Loading times are irrelevant as HDDs are faster than (affordable) cartridges anyway.
CD / DVD / Blu-ray / UHD can all be read by the same reader, cartridges are not backwards compatible.

I thought the PS4 couldn't read CDs?

If SONY wanted to they could upgrade the firmware to make it so.  Although SONY and Philips are joint creators of the CD-DA format I believe SONY would have to pay Philips a certain amount per PS4 out there to do this (its probably pennies per though), though I am no expert.  However, I suspect the real reason for not wasting time paying for licensing and put time into making the software is that Audio CD's are at this point antiquated to the point that _new_ hardware is not necessary.  Music Streaming has almost completely taken over.

To be fair, can you pop a PS1/PS2/PS3 disc in a PS4 and play it?

Cartridges are adorable.

The answer is a resounding "no".

I think the main thing SvennoJ might have been referring to is that physical carts each gen have rarely been compatible.  Disc size and for the most part laser type in drives has been compatible.  The primary reason for not making _all_ PS1/PS2/PS3 discs compatible in a PS4 is licensing and emulation rather than additionally the fact that each gen carts tend to be completely physically incompatible.

Regardless, compatability is imo neither here nor there in the OP's discussion.

I voted cartridges, mostly due to the (theoretically, at least) faster loading times.

However, cartridges and cards are more expensive to produce than optical disks, by a large margin. I'm not willing to pay more money for cartridges. And, in reality, the costs of the cartridge are paid by the end user - me. So, after giving it more thought, I probably should have voted for optical disks.