Back in the 90s people were saying the exact same thing - except digital referred to CDs, laser disks, and DVDs (a bit later). It was all about preserving vinyl, and to a lesser extent, tape.

Personally, for me, as someone who reads a ton and listens to tons of music; I couldn’t imagine doing the physical media thing anymore. I’m usually on the go, I’m reading tons of different websites, a lot of different novels to fit what I am currently in the mood for, and I love listening to music. If I had to limit myself to what I carry around, magazines instead of websites, catalogues instead of amazon/online stores, big bulky books instead of snooks, and flipping around vinyl records all the time... I think I wouldn’t be able to function. While I am a child of the 80s, I’m very much a man of the 21st century... as a child of the 80s and its narcissism, I turned around this conversation and made it all about me :P

Half the joy was procuring something physically though. Getting a new tape or CD from the store, or as a gift... that's gone now and for me, that also halves the experience. And unlike you, I am home all the time. As an author, most of my listening is done at home on speakers. Do you know how shitty your streaming sounds through good speakers? It's like raping your ears with glass. 

The biggest difference imo, the biggest negative to digital is how it's just everywhere, all the time. If you fly to a starving country right now and give a kid who's only entertainment is chasing horseflies an Atari 2600, he's not only going to be blown away but he's going to think it's the greatest, most entertaining thing in the entire history of man. Less is more... and back when we didn't have albums, games and media at the push of a button or for free? We cherished them more. At least I know I did. When you got an NES game, you knew you weren't getting another for a long ass time. It was all you had and as a result, you 100% the fuck out of it. It meant more. 

That is where we differ. I was born in 1980. I am old enough to remember the nuisance of inconvenience but young enough to always be excited by new things (Plus I have kids, so the very concept of inconvenience is more than just a nuisance, it can be a short visit in hell).

You can still go into a store and buy a CD, that is not gone. There is less of this around now because it is not something most people prefer to do anymore.

Also, if you have ears so superior to mine that it makes such a huge difference: you can still get vinyl, which its fans will assure you is far higher quality than CDs or cassettes. I'll stick to my streaming, I don't find any issues with it over high-quality speakers, certainly nothing close to "ear raping." Frankly, even my "inferior" ears can hear that today's digital streaming is higher quality than cassettes. But streaming is only an option, there is the ability to download the files which are virtually the same quality or higher than CDs - yes, the files of a current day remaster are higher quality than the files stored on old CDs.

For vinyl: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/vinyl/home?iampartner=spon5&awc=115&awa=1025&kw=%2Bvinyl%20%2Bonline%20%2Bstore&pos=1t1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7pau4Iyg2AIVgrXACh23VACbEAAYASAAEgIZ6vD_BwE

As for the kid in a starving country analogy. If I gave him a Switch or PS4, he would think that it is significantly better than an Atari 2600. First and foremost, it would immediately work upon turning it on; no fiddling around with it for half an hour - no freezing, glitching. Also, it is not just people in starving countries who would be impressed by Switch or PS4, but people around the world. I thought NES was sufficient in the 1980s, but if some company came along and released the equivalent of it today with original but comparable content, it would be considered the longest grossest turd on the market. People would take offence at its existence.

Can you imagine, taking someone a game like Power Jumping Crickets and Bunny Hunter? 8-bit games, easy by putting the gun to the TV screen and firing your three bullets. Limited sprite capability. Having to take the cartridge out, clean the pins, put it back, and keep trying until it starts? Also charging the price of a brand new modern game console? The point is, today's tech has the advantage of being more advanced, and therefore superior.