Sure, I agree with you for the most part. Except that if you're going to see one of these autotune singers live with the hope that they're able to sound exactly like the record then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Would you feel cheated if you found out that the magic show you went to in Vegas was just sleight-of-hand and trickery? :)

I personally dislike it too, but I'm not going to say it's not artistic, because to someone else it might be. People get so caught up and passionate with their art of choice that they sometimes forget that it's all just entertainment in the end. Whether it be Hillary Hahn or some teenager making beats in Ableton and throwing in the stock vocal effect.

About 80s synths, I think a lot of us, or at least I personally associate that cheesy sound with mass-produced digital synths put out by Yamaha, Roland etc. It's all variety and I love it. My dad still has a DX7 and a D-50 that I'm hoping to inherit.