The guy lost me at recovery seeds being "paper claims" to private keys. The source code for deriving said private keys from your recovery seeds are out there. You can derive your private keys yourself without the need for any third party support. Also, at least with Trezor, you can import your recovery seeds / private keys into a software wallet such as Multibit, so you're not forced to buy a new one.
Of course you don't need a hardware wallet to store your coins securely. I personally just find it way more convenient to use my cold storage with the ease of a hot wallet.
Not only Trezor has that capacity to import your seeds in another compatible wallet with the seed of a hardware wallet. Ledger Nano S has also support for it. I think that paper wallets are a pain in the a** while hardware wallets can be used both ways, even hot and even cold storage depending on the user.