Collector Nerd Alert: In its pristine state, styrene actually sounds better, is quieter and boasts a wider dynamic range than commercial-grade (as opposed to expensive audiophile grade) vinyl. Styrene gets a bad rep because it does wear more quickly than vinyl and is unforgiving when used with worn or otherwise non-hi-fi needles, quickly degrading the audio while hardly affecting the appearance. However, give me a pristine styrene pressing over a vinyl one any day for its superior audio fidelity and sheer majesty, since I don't plan on playing any 45 more than once or twice as it passes through my hands in the store.

I can understand why a professional DJ would prefer vinyl over styrene... if properly cared for, vinyl will stand up better to nightly play, while styrene will slowly degrade even if used with top-notch audio playback equipment in the punishing play rotation it might experience in a nightclub or radio station. But if you're not going to be playing your 45 multiple times a day as a professional DJ might do, there's no reason to shy away from styrene pressings (you can't avoid them anyway, they're so ubiquitous). Indeed, I would argue that you will get a bigger thrill out of listening to a pristine styrene 45 and need not worry about degrading the audio if you plan on only light play with properly calibrated audiophile or at least professional-grade playback equipment. I personally actively seek out and prize styrene pressings that have truly undamaged grooves, because even Mint vinyl quite often has a tiny bit of surface noise, whereas pristine styrene has zero. You have to be careful with styrene pressings, however, because degradation may not show up at the beginning of the track, so you should always listen to the end of a track to see if the audio is as pure as it was at the beginning. Records that pass that test, in my opinion, should strongly entice you if you don't already have them. (You can identify styrene pressings typically as those that have glued-on paper labels as opposed to pressed-on labels that have no edge to "peel" off.)