When I was a teenager, buying music was pretty straightforward. You had a choice of two formats - cassette or vinyl and that was about it. All you really had to decide was what you wanted to buy.
It's not so straightforward now. I imagine that most pre-recorded music is purchased on CD. I'm not sure if cassettes are still available, but even if they are, why would you want one? I also know that, though I doubt if you'll see many on the high street, LPs have never really gone away. In fact at least one serious hi-fi buff i know prefers records to anything else, and he's probably not the only one. For a while, then, it's basically been a case of deciding what you want, then buying the appropriate compact disc. Fine, no problem there...
Problem is that there are new digital formats appearing, eg
1. SACD (Super Audio Compact Disc)
2. DVD-A ( DVD Audio)
I really would prefer it if we could avoid another format war. SACD v DVD-A brings to mind the VHS/Betamax wars, wherein the main loser was the poor old consumer...
As if this wasn't enough, if instead one elects to opt for music in the form of computer downloads, it's not much better. There's the ubiquitous MP3, Microsoft's own WMA and doubtless may other different formats.
Truly, the era of the LP was a simpler time - come to think of it, the album covers looked much nicer when 12 inch sized as well!
* Yes, I have taken the title from a musical lyric. It's from Queen's Radio GaGa.