It’s interesting that you mentioned the radio angle. I was thinking about that yesterday. Unless I mowed enough lawns or shoveled enough snow, I did not have money for albums. But I got an AM/FM radio for Christmas. So many great rock hits were on the FM Channels. Pop was on AM, and groups like the Who and Frank Zappa were on FM. Later, I saved enough money for a cassette recorder and bought a 60 - 90-minute cassette tape. I would listen to the radio and record my favorite songs as they came on. Later, when I had the money, albums, cassette tapes, and CDs were my source, so I stopped listening to the radio. But, it all started with the radio.
Yup, taping off the radio, the great American tradition, getting a bunch of songs missing the first 15 seconds. Heck I even continued that with music videos, when I first got MTV I’d watch Closet Classics with a tape in the VCR and record stuff. And streaming just isn’t the same. You don’t get to choose a song like the radio tape. Sure you give it a thumbs up or whatever, but it just doesn’t have that meaning.