I sold mine after a few months. I already had a Series X and a decent PC. I'd like to play the exclusives, but they didn't hook me enough to justify the price tag. (And Jim Ryan is a bellend.)

Have you completely closed down all games whilst downloading?
Keeping them in standby can have an effect on the download speed.

I just put rechargeable AAs in my non-Elite controllers and they last much longer than the PS4 or PS5 pads.

They came out at the same time. Despite the difference in power, the Series S and X are the game generation.

How is a Series S last gen? It's far more powerful than the One X or PS4 Pro and it's capable of running all current gen games. It's not on the same level as the Series X or PS5, but it isn't technically last gen at all.

As for the OP's question, Game Pass is great. The PS5 exclusives are also great. You'll have to pick one. If you have a lot of friends on a particular console, that might help away you. Personally, I bought a Series X, then a PS5. I sold my PS5 because I was playing Xbox so much more and a lot of the exclusives make it to PC anyway.

Yes and it's doesn't require anything that could get your Xbox account banned. Search for Gamr13 Series S or X emulation. It's a little fiddly to set up, but I've been playing PS2 games really well.

Shenmue

Hogwarts, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Fable (maybe?)

I bought a Series X then I bought a PS5 a few months later.
I rarely played the PS5 at all and ended up selling it again a few months after that. I don't regret it.
I've been a fan of Playstations since the first, and also Xboxes since the first too (as well as Sega and Nintendo), but I just didn't use it.
My Xbox gets a lot of use, and I have a Series S as well which sits in the bedroom for when the TV is occupied.
I'm also very much in to cloud gaming which Xbox has done so much better at than Sony in recent years (but I prefer Geforce Now to both)

The lack of right analogue stick and L3 is a pain in the chops. But if it's for nostalgic reasons then go ahead! The games are fantastic.

As much as I thought having a disc version was necessary, I find myself never using the discs. They just sit there.
It takes me longer to install than it does to download (your miles may vary).
In fact, the only discs I have are retro games, rare stuff like an FFVIII Boxed Copy for PS4 and the odd Xbox game that is worthless, like Watchdogs.

It's a really bad year for games if these are the nominees. It's not that any are bad, but two of them are GotW material at best. Given that Elden Ring seems to be a contender for one of the greatest of all time (I didn't like it) then I'd be surprised if this didn't win.