Digital can sound good, maybe even better than analog, but a low bitrate or low sampling rate on a digital audio file can sound absolutely horrible! Everyone can agree that they would rather hear an out-of-alignment tape head over a super low bitrate .mp3 file. Even 3 3/4 inches per second tape speed sounds good on most machines!
If you have any precious recordings that you would not want deleted, destroyed, or anything else to happen to it, tape would be a good solution for preserving it! With digital files, someone can hack your computer and delete everything, or your computer simply breaks and everything is gone! The worst that can happen with tape is that it snaps and breaks, but in that case you would splice it and have a minor audio drop-out.
As long as you know where the record switch/button is, you can make a spectacular recording instantly! The only problem is that you would have to have the recording volume set perfectly, which isn't a big problem for most people.
You can find a decent reel-to-reel or cassette deck for under $150 (usually) on eBay, which is a pretty good price for a machine like that. Unless a machine has an electrical issue or something similar, most tape recorders will sound the same (in a good way). Just make sure you don't buy one of those pocket cassette recorders! They sound horrible... of course, because they were meant for dictation.