I remember 20 years ago when a 4 track cassette recorder was 600 bones. A digital effect unit 800. Now you can get an entire studio with 10 input capability, a decent computer and a few mics for the price of those 2 units.
Yeah it's come full circle, it's what it use to be like with 8 tracks.
My children have seen some in the attic and wanted to know what they were. ~ local record stores sell them for a quarter as drink coasters!