[aarmenante]

If you're into house/techno/disco all the best records get released (or rereleased) on vinyl first, before eventually getting out as a digital download.

Also for artists, the profit margins are higher selling an LP (or even better a cassette) then releasing it to a small fanbase on Spotify. It's a better way to connect with a band you like than just streaming a track on your iPhone. You get the artwork to look at, and it's fun to read the production notes.

I can't remember the last time I bought an album on iTunes or even beatport. If I really want the digital copy I'll look for it on bandcamp.

[torrent-of-ions]

Really? Last time I was into listening to new trance (pre ~2006) there were only a small handful of labels that still pressed vinyl. I haven't seen turntables in the wild for years, alas. Maybe it's different with more "underground" house and techno and disco, though.

[aarmenante]

I'm not sure about trance but "cool" techno/house is all being pressed on limited run distributions ( > 5000) before hitting digital downloads.

I might be in a bubble living in Brooklyn, but I'm seeing more record bags than thumb drives these days.

Sites like themixtapeshop.com and turntablelab.com are putting out great stuff every week so it's easy to build a set. You don't need to go digging through dusty bins to get records these days.

[whatok]

If you get all your records from the same place as everyone then your sets are going to sound the same as everyone else.

[GuiA]

The state of vinyl was much different pre-2006.

[brandonmenc]

Really? It seems like (true) techno releases drop as either digital-only or simultaneous digital and vinyl, bur rarely vinyl-first.

Which makes sense, because techno has always been at the forefront of digital adoption compared to other genres of dance music.

[swiley]

Cassettes seem like they would get distorted which is way worse than the failure mode for records (getting noisy).

[derwiki]

Maybe the impermanence is a feature? My brother used to brag about wearing out 3 copies of Master of Puppets.