Well, for one, there's no hole anymore to plug in these perfectly good headphones. For two, I didn't need an internet connection to play local files. Three, I didn't need 3 different battery emplacements, one was sufficient. Four, I don't have to leave my front door unlocked to look out the window (bluetooth attack surface). Five - Spotify and probably apple music inject content I don't want to listen to, don't respect my shuffle choices, and sell everything I listen to and linger on to anyone with a cent and a pulse. Six - My headphones will last at least an order of magnitude longer than your AirPods. Seven - When i open up my stock music player, it won't need to 'update' (where updates are acutally prebuffered crap (remember that U2 album?) and title cards and features I do not require for my application experience.
There's a reason Apple stopped making the iPod. It wasn't for your benefit. It was to monetize your habits, and enslave your consumer urges. I know people who have lost 5 digit music collections, because Apple just paved over them, knowing they'd line right up to buy it all over again.