The future is now

So I came to work an hour and a half early today, because I am a shithead as well as a dick, so I decided to do some Christmas shopping. In so doing, I have learned that music tapes are well and truly dead. This may seem pitifully obvious to most, but I was rather surprised.
You see, I have a friend currently living on an army base in Afghanistan, of all places, with only a walkman for company. For Christmas, my original plan was to make her some mix tapes which was torpedoed as the tape deck on my stereo is on the fritz. Plan B was to purchase some tapes for her, which has proved... troubling.
New music stores simply do not carry tapes anymore, which I did not expect, somehow. Granted, I have not attempted to buy a new tape of music in over ten years, but I thought there might be some analog stalwart out there. It turns out the only venue for music tapes is used CD/book stores, however the snag there is that you will only find the most atrocious crap ever inflicted on the public (David Lee Roth, anyone?). So, sorry, my desert-dwelling friend; I guess there's just no room for poor old tapes in our high-tech, fast paced world.
(Cue sad violin music, as Music Tapes shuffles off into the sunset, ala the Incredible Hulk TV series).