If you enjoy dance music vinyl is the only real choice. CDs and MP3s are fine alternatives, but dance music and vinyl were always a match made in heaven, or at least in the night clubs and dance venues of the world. For music enthusiasts, including house and dance music, the sounds and beats of the music tracks seems to come much more alive when played through the medium of vinyl, and this adds a huge dimension.

Today so much of the music generated for the house and dance scene is electronic, and it might be argued that for this reason there seems relatively little point worrying about the distinction between vinyl and other modern media forms, such as compact disks, DVDs and the ubiquitous MP3 files so easily carried about with us. But there is an important distinction between portability and the feel of music. After all, remember that when it comes to vinyl music, record have the music stamped on them in physical grooves. This adds a dimension to the music which is entirely lost when reduced to streams of ones and zeros in a invisible form of data.

With vinyl records, the music can almost be touched, and for this reason, felt. This is, of course, not even giving thought to the added benefits available to DJs. Those who either are disk jockeys by profession, or simply enjoy playing the role themselves for fun, when it comes to dance music vinyl adds options that digital music simply can't match. Being able to scratch, mix, distort, speed up, replay and otherwise play about creatively with the music is important, and although modern computer wizards have tried to emulate this ability, it is little more than a stale, cold emulation, rather than a heartfelt, physical throb that can be felt as well as heard.

It is amusing to sometimes hear the resulting sounds created by these computer geniuses developing tracks which sound as though they have used vinyl, mixing and scratching the sounds together. In many cases this is startlingly obvious, but somehow the spontaneity is lost, and computers turn digital data into predictable, calculated and planned performances. Dance music, and vinyl music should incorporate more spontaneity and flair - something that is lost in other formats all too often.

Disk jockeys enjoy being able to play with the music tracks, adding their own personal touch. Granted, years ago, most DJs simply stuck a record on, then put another record on, talked a bit, stuck another record on and that was about the end of their creativity. But for a long time now the demand and the opportunity has been around for DJs to step away from the dark corners and become the show themselves, enjoying the music, playing with the music, and creating tracks, mixes and sounds which are entirely unique to that performance, and to that venue. People have started visiting clubs as much for the DJ as for the music, and the atmosphere.

But such opportunities for individuality and excitement are fading with the move to digital media, MP3s and compact disks or DVDs. These media try to emulate the sound of vinyl, with recorded scratches, re-recorded mixes and manipulated sounds. But most audiences can not only detect the difference in sound between vinyl and digital media, but they can also feel the difference too.

For those of us old enough to remember when records and vinyl were the only media form available, or at least the dominant form, nothing else can possibly compare to the sound of the music played. Yes, there were scratches, static, crackles and other sounds which computers are able to edit out. But that is like taking a perfectly good looking person and digitizing them, removing anything which makes them different from other people, removing individual, quirks and characteristic until you are left with something that is stark and clinical and utterly devoid of character or feeling.

This is very much what some people feel has been happening in the world of music, and particularly for dance music vinyl has seen a tremendous comeback, with many artists now releasing tracks on vinyl as well as in other forms to help recapture the feel of spontaneity, the flair for style and the feel of character and imperfection that has always been such an important part of dance music and house music across the country for decades.