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The cassette tapes are still relatively popular in Germany. In my last trip into Saturn (a large retailer here in Germany), there had a good range of up-to-date music and audio books still for sale. However, most of titles are targeted towards to younger kids.

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Do you have any idea what drives their enduring popularity in Germany in particular?

I think the main driver is the selection for kids.

Cassette players are quite sturdy things. Even if cassettes themselves are not as good as the players, they are still better than CDs.

Kids like to handle things, the haptic sensation is important, so you can't give them something with a touch screen early on (although that changes quickly with age).

I would be surprised if this is specific to Germany.

As a German my guess would be the kids market. A mixture between the reliability and indestructibility of tapes vs CD. Also it is very easy for young kids to understand the UX of a cassette player.

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