A once common sight lost to time is the cassette tape that got eaten by someone's car stereo and thrown out the window (presumably in anger). In later years, broken CDs sometimes made an appearance but nowhere near as frequently as strung out cassettes.
I couldn’t afford too many cassettes growing up. I managed to save a few roadside discards and add them to my collection. I distinctly remember being introduced to Whodini that way while living in the farmlands of Michigan.
we used to collect the AOL CDs and make different art projects with them. from simple hanging mobiles to catch/reflect light to melting them with torches and other ways of using them in random ways.
can't forget the tying cassette tape to your antenna as a streamer. kids today look at cars and ask what's an antenna. no, i don't mean the sharkfin for XM radio.