You are a long way out of date Gunther!
Mine (Continental Winter Contact TS830) are little if any noisier than the Michelin summer tyres fitted as original equipment. I don't know what you mean by "general limitations". It was the inability to get anywhere in the snow last winter that caused me to change my arrangements for this year - it certainly doesn't feel like 30 years ago. In any case, modern winter tyres are not only for use on snow and ice. They give better road holding performance than summer tyres on both dry and wet roads at temperatures below 7C. Their wear characteristics are not as good as summer tyres if used at temperatures above 7C, but I will be taking mine off at the end of March.
The manufacturers quote a five year life for the elastomers in the tyre if they are unused. I will be happy if I get three years from them. Buying a spare set of wheels is certainly an additional capital cost, but in the long term the extra tyre cost is very marginal since wear will be spread over eight tyres rather than four.
People will have to make up their own minds whether the extra expenditure is worthwhile. I am driving to and from my home without any significant difficulty at present. Having just helped my neighbour to push his stranded BMW 318 up the Close and onto his drive, I think (for me) it was money well spent.