I believe it's all subjective, if you ask us collectors here the majority of us will say previous gens are better because there were no Day 1 patches, no 50GB add ons, games worked as they should from day 1, etc.
However if you ask a modern gamer about this they really couldn't care less to be honest. Majority of people playing games are buying digital and loathe collection clutter. Video game collectors are a dying breed when you look at the large scale of things. Last I heard digital sales for PS4 is up ahead by 74% compared to people buying physical, so the PS5 is gonna be the last console with physical games at this rate.
Music CDs are pretty much alien to kids and young adults these days when everything is so readily available on Spotify. Modern consoles have apps for Music, Youtube, Netflix, storefronts, etc. And that to a modern gamer is quality compared to being able to play a music CD from the disc drive.
Sony and Microsoft are just catering to the overall majority of their consumer base to earn a profit. Just look at how popular Game Pass is, the gaming industry is saying it's the best thing to come out of this generation and I don't blame them, to a modern gamer it's a no brainer to subscribe to Game Pass because the value behind it is too good to pass up. For me as a collector I couldn't give a damn because I have a large majority of those games I'm interested in being offered and my main concern is if my physical game is backward compatible to run on an Xbox One.
Quality wise the modern consoles are pretty solid with 500GB / 1TB storage options, they just cater to a different crowd, the young and upcoming crowd that is. For me I don't use any of the additional apps on my PS4 or XB1, I just use it to play my physical games and connect it online to just download the latest patches or DLC's I'm interested in. The modern console is just not built for me, accepted it a long time ago but I still enjoy what modern gaming has to offer.