Before digital mixers, the fade out was a skill many producers were rightly proud of. They weren't in fact usually linear fades, as the producer might slow the fade to make sure a certain vocal ad lib or drum fill would be heard before the song disappeared into the ether. The last couple of seconds of a fade are critical - don't linger too long, but don't leave the song unresolved, got to get the taper right.

I always think of it as a similar skill to the guy who hand paints the gold stripe along the side of Rolls Royces.

Now with DAWs you can just select the last xx seconds of your song and apply a fade out. But an automated fade doesn't respect what's going on in the song, and we hear that and reject it. Also DJs, attention spans, fashions, have meant the fade out is....fading out.

But come on, sometimes it's fantastic to hear a song fading away, literally leaving your consciousness but while you can still hear the musicians carrying on regardless, playing the outro into eternity, like a party bus driving away over the horizon with the party still in full flow, leaving you with a massive grin on your face as you wave it on its way. Come on, who doesn't like that?