Why Cassettes Gave Way To CDs, Or Why Vinyl Rocks!

Aside from the fact that I seem to be subconsciously channelling Rocky and Bullwinkle with this post title, I have a rant to share.  Why is it that a nearly 50 year old LP can still be played to make a serviceable CD copy, but a cassette that is half that age, and has apparently been stowed away in a case, won’t play anymore?  My dad was cleaning out his garage and found a big box of cassettes, including his copy of the Singing Americans Live and Alive, which I had been after him to find for a while.  I took it home, stuck it in my tape deck connected to the PC, and tried to rip it down.  Yeah, that didn’t work.  Half the tape was so garbled you couldn’t make out anything intelligible.  However, my copy of the Blackwood Brothers Give Us This Day LP, which is quickly approaching 50 years old, ripped near perfectly, and with a little love and some basic filters applied, comes out nearly CD quality?  This is why I much prefer vinyl to cassettes.