The Cassette Deck Repair Odyssey: Is Tape Worth It?

It's been many years since I last used cassette tapes. Now that they're starting to gain popularity again, I gave them another shot -- but does the experience justify the cost and effort?
Thanks goes to Business Casual for sending some tapes my way:
businesscasual...
3D Blast makes some super fun vaporwave/future funk:
3dblast.bandcam...
Sources:
Japanese WM-R202 ad: bouya.officew....
New replacement Walkman belts: www.fixyouraudi...
Best Buy blank tape ad: imgur.com/gall...
Cassette sales by year: www.officialch...
GPX cassette player image: www.ebay.com/i...
Tanashin cassette mechanism footage courtesy Techmoan: • The last cassette mech...
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Music: "Mexico", "If You See Her", "Born in the 90s", "Call Waiting", "Boat", "Melting Sun" and "Bursts of Brightness" by Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsou...).
Featured music: "Talk To Me" by 3D Blast (3dblast.bandcam...).
Intro music by BoxCat Games (www.box-cat.com).