[ilyt]

Tape players have it because buttons were used to physically actuate controls of the deck.

It was easier to have "stop" be mechanics to disengage head, "play" to engage head" and "pause" being just on/off switch for the motor than trying to merge play/pause into 1.

> Most of us were trained to expect that before contemporary media players started showing up.

CD players started getting play/pause precisely because they didn't need to. Most VCRs also had digital controls (coz moving mechanisms via push of button would be harder with big tapes and heads) and they also did often have play/pause integrated.

Some opted for copying tape 1:1, some merged play/pause into one button, it certainly wasnt that all of them had separate pause.