My mom had a lot of 45's which I listened to a lot when I was really really young. But she also had a pretty decent collection of full albums on 33 which I also grew up listening to; everything from Elvis to Peter Paul & Mary and Herb Alpert to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Those albums, the vinyl was hard and thick, like a frisbee almost! As time went on, records became thinner and slightly flexible. Perhaps they were more cheaply made. *shrug*.
Eight-tracks were popular in my 10-and-younger years. It was the 70's and 8-tracks were the rage. I never really listened to music on 8-track. I had one 8-track, Kiss Alive II, which someone gave me, but no 8-track player, so it was a pointless exercise for me.
As a teen, cassettes became popular and this was what the bulk of my music was on, as well as LPs, but mostly cassettes. I had a formidable collection in the day. But at the close of the 80's CDs began coming in and by the early 90's had taken over in popularity. I didn't actually have a CD player though until 1993. Since then my cassette collection has dwindled significantly. I still have a handful which at the moment Angel is recording to mp3 as most of those cassettes are recordings of my grandfather's jazz band from way back in the day. So I want to keep them.
I don't harbour any idealistic view that music sounded better on records or even cassettes. With the technology we have today I think we're fortunate that music is so crystal clear sounding. But I do feel thoughtful about the way music has evolved in all areas included the way it is distributed.
And PS: whatever happened to liner notes? Bring'em back, I say!