That Was Then (Record-Playing Confusion), This Is Now (AV Format Choices in Libraries)

Then.   (Advertisement from 1950 issue of National Geographic.  And here you thought they were good for nothing!)

Now.

Playaway.

Downloadable.

Unabridged CD

Abridged CD.

Cassette

For this example, I had to jump to another record.  (And I know for a fact that many people didn't carefully read the bib record before placing a hold.)

Foreign language.

Sure, there's an element of confusion with multiple formats -- and I won't go into the challenges of AV collection development here -- but except for foreign language, I've used all of the above formats at one time or another.  I'm currently listening to a Digging to America by Anne Tyler on Playaway and just finished The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates on CD.